Deaconess Hospital, 1907-1927
Collection Overview
Title: Deaconess Hospital, 1907-1927
ID: OGLMC531
Extent: 0.5 Linear Feet
Date Acquired: 01/04/1984. More info below under Accruals.
Subjects: Grand Forks, Grand Forks - Health Care, Health and Medicine
Abstract
Scope and Contents of the Materials
Collection Historical Note
The Deaconess Hospital began as St. Luke's Hospital, founded in 1892 by Dr. J.E. Engstad. It was the first hospital in America built and owned by a Scandinavian, and was located at the corner of South Fourth Street and Division Avenue. Because of inadequate staffing in the early years, Dr. Engstad requested help from the Deaconess Home in Minneapolis for nurses. A new wing was added in 1894, bringing the total number of beds to 35.
In 1899, Dr. Engstad sold St. Luke's to the Deaconess Corporation through the selling of subscriptions headed by Rev. I. Tollefson. It became the Grand Forks Deaconess Hospital December 11, 1899. The hospital continued to grow and there were several additions made to the building. A training school for nurses was established in 1904 to alleviate the shortage of nurses in the region. This was a three-year program and the first class graduated in 1907. A pediatrics department opened in 1942, and the total number of beds was 150 in 1951. The nursing school closed in 1959 with the new College of Nursing program at UND. The Deaconess Corporation sold the hospital to the United Hospital Corporation for $1.00 in 1971, completing 79 years of service to the Grand Forks area.
Subject/Index Terms
Administrative Information
Repository: Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections
Accruals: Additional materials were donated by Jim Braud, Little Falls, MN, in May 2016 (2016-3316). Braud had two great aunts, Christine and Gina Eastvold, who graduated from the Nurses Training School. Christine graduated in 1909 and Gina graduated in 1916.
Access Restrictions: Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections.
Acquisition Source: Myra Museum, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Acquisition Method: Donation; 84-1267
Preferred Citation: (Description of Item). Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections, Chester Fritz Library, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Box:
[Box 1],
[All]
- Box 1
- Folder 1: Applications - Nurses Training (A-D)
- Folder 2: Applications - Nurses Training (E-G)
- Folder 3: Applications - Nurses Training (H-L)
- Folder 4: Applications - Nurses Training (M-R)
- Folder 5: Applications - Nurses Training (S-W)
- Folder 6: Correspondence, 1908
- Folder 7: Correspondence, 1909
- Folder 8: Correspondence, 1910-1913
- Folder 9: Correspondence - Nurses Training, 1907-1916
- Mostly inquiries about the nurses training program.
- Folder 10: Brochure on the Deaconess Hospital Nurses Training School, ca. 1927
- Includes a list of graduates from 1907 through 1927.
- Folder 11: World War I Nurses
- Information about nurses from Deaconess or UND who served in France during WWI. Nurses are Nora Anderson (died in France from meningitis in January 1919), Christine Eastvold, Sarah Sand, and Selma Sand. Includes articles from the Fargo Forum preserved at the NDSU Archives (Blue Capes-Scarlet Linings; small collection 745).
- Folder 12: Photographs - Nursing Students, 1907-1911
Year of Deaconess graduation is noted in parentheses. Dates of the actual photographs are not provided.
531-1: Inger Hvidding (1907)
531-2 and 531-3: Tina Hegland Johnson (1909)
531-4: Mary Ann Serum (1909)
531-5 and 531-6: Nora Anderson (1911) in WWI Red Cross uniform (531-6). Died in France in January 1919.
531-7: Effie Kringle (1911)
- Folder 13: Photographs - Nursing Students, 1911-1913
Year of Deaconess graduation is noted in parentheses. Dates of the actual photographs are not provided.
531-8 and 531-9: Rena Olson (1911)
531-10: Mathilda Hoff (1911)
531-11: Mathilda Thompson (1913)
531-12: Selma Sand (1913) in WWI Red Cross uniform
531-13: (L-R) Rena Olson, Selma Sand, and Mathilda Thompson
- Folder 14: Photographs - Deaconess Hospital and staff
531-14: Deaconess Hospital (postcard)
531-15: Deaconess Hospital with unidentified staff and nursing students in front, ca. 1910
531-16: Possibly an unidentified staff nurse (photograph from Litchfield, MN)
531-17: Inger Agrimson, born 10 Sep 1885 in Fillmore Co., MN. Nurse in Minneapolis in 1910.
531-18: Sister Christine Olson, Directress at Deaconess Hospital. Came to Grand Forks in the 1890s.
531-19: Dr. John E. Engstad, physician and founder of St. Luke's Hospital, predecessor of Deaconess.
- Folder 15: Photographs - Staff and Nursing Students
531-20 through 531-22: Emma Hanson - the last of the three photographs is of her wedding. Unsure if she was a student or on the hospital staff.
531-23: Dorothy Kleppe - probably a staff nurse; listed at Deaconess in 1910 census
531-24: Group photograph with front (L-R) - Alice Olson, Amund Ostmo, Mrs. Amund Ostmo, Inger Hvidding, Dorothy Kleppe; back (L-R) - Mathilda Hoff, Mary Ann Serum, Tina Hegland, Effie Kringle, Christine Eastvold, Nora Anderson, Josephine Stenness
- Folder 16: Photographs - assorted
531-25: Postcard from Gina Eastvold to her sister Christine, August 1914 (front has the Great Northern Depot, Grand Forks)
531-26: Agnes Gjerstad as a nurse. She was born ca. 1897 in Iowa and was listed as a nurse in 1940 in Minnetonka, MN.
531-27: Gjerstad family - Agnes in back, possibly with her siblings, ca. 1920s
531-28: Family of Gaulek O. Mona, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church, Grand Forks (1911 city directory)
531-29: Pauline Urvold, Williston, ND, June 1916 (Urvold graduated in 1919 from the Deaconess nursing program)
531-30: Postcard from Irene Strand
531-31: Group of three women and one man (Rev. Floren?) outside a sanatorium, June 1921
531-32: Holiday photograph - names on back are Kathryn, John, Cornelius, Severin, Hilda Mae, Florine, Marvella, Alice, Neon Hauge, Catherine Braunschweig
531-33: Holiday photograph - Alice and Gudrun (sisters?)
- Folder 1: Applications - Nurses Training (A-D)