Cincinnati Children's Archives

Cincinnati Children’s is a story of healing and helping children for more than 130 years.
Pursuing our Potential Together So All Kids Can Pursue Theirs

This thesis article, written by Trevor Lyle Israelsen, explores the history of Cincinnati’s Episcopal Hospital for Children during the Progressive Era. The article describes an extended process of professionalization whereby the diocesan charity became a vanguard organization in the nascent specialization of pediatric medicine. This transformation was largely a cultural one. While the hospital’s annual reports maintained discursive continuity about its central mission, distinct interpretations of the concepts of child welfare and health by intra-organizational groups acted as the key drivers of organizational change. The Board of Lady Managers believed that the organization needed to provide holistic care, emotional security, and Christian salvation to poor children. In contrast, doctors from the hospital’s Medical Board emphasized the need for scientific healthcare practices and policies. Crises and conflict pitted the two groups against one another, ultimately resulting in the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Pediatric Research Foundation of the 1930s.