Caring for Our History
The Cincinnati Children's Archives, exists to acquire, preserve, and make available records that support, chronicle, and promote the ongoing mission, heritage, and cultural memory of Cincinnati Children’s, its staff, support personnel, patients, and families.
Documenting Our Focus of Care, Cure, Community and Culture
Our history is reflected in a variety of sources: recorded interviews of medical staff; photographs of patients; families and their care teams; annual reports of the hospital and research foundation; research findings, and staff histories. These records amplify breakthroughs in research, training, and care that are a hallmark of Cincinnati Children’s significant influence in the development of pediatric medicine.
Advancing Our Future
Our history runs long and deep. The archives serve as our memory of the innovative thinkers who imagined possibilities and transformed ideas into reality to advance pediatric medicine. It’s the legacy for which we build our future and dare to dream bigger to inspire future generations of researchers, scholars and healthcare providers.
William J. Gerhardt, M.D., (1928-2020) served over 50 years as a community pediatrician in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1980, Dr. Gerhardt was appointed Cincinnati Children’s staff historian. For the next 30+ years, he tirelessly collected, preserved, and promoted Cincinnati Children’s history, particularly by creating the Cincinnati Children’s archives, located in the Mitchell-Nelson Library in Location R.
Dr. Gerhardt also wrote regular articles on the history of Cincinnati Children’s which were published in the Heritage Corner of the Medical Staff Bulletin.
For all of his tireless work, the History Committee of Cincinnati Children’s and the Mitchell-Nelson Library honored Dr. Gerhardt on June 4, 2019, by dedicating his personal and research papers as The William J. Gerhardt Research Collection (MS-3).
To learn more about Dr. William J. Gerhardt's invaluable legacy, please watch this video created for the dedication of his research papers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiYahPAEhw4&list=PLi-7CrjHWbqiuDy1xi39WhtaknVST_Yjt&index=5
In December 2021, the first full-time Archivist was hired to continue the incredible work that Dr. Gerhardt started in the 1980s and continued by the Hospital's support of two temporary Archivists starting in 2014.