Summary Information
Clarence R. Wentland Papers on Dr. Kate Pelham Newcomb
1945-1962
Mss 320; PH Mss 320
0.4 c.f. (1 archives box) and 9 photographs (1 folder)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of Clarence Wentland, a Woodruff, Wisconsin, businessman, entirely concerning his leadership in the “Million Penny Parade” fundraising drive to build a hospital that would serve the Arbor Vitae, Woodruff, Minocqua, and Lac du Flambeau area of northern Wisconsin. This idea was suggested by Dr. Kate Pelham Newcomb. Included are clippings from newspapers and magazines relating to the hospital and to Dr. Newcomb; records of the hospital (Lakeland Memorial Hospital, Woodruff); and miscellaneous newsletters, publicity releases, photographs, and other papers. Correspondents include Adele Comandini, Ralph Edwards, Edward R. Murrow, and Arthur Rubloff. There is also a script for Dr. Kate's appearance on the This Is Your Life television program. The photographs document the dedication of the Dr. Kate memorial plaque at the hospital and other fundraising events. There is one photograph of Dr. Kate.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00320 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Kate Pelham was born July 26, 1886 in Wellington, Kansas. After the death of her mother, and her father's remarriage, the family moved to Buffalo, New York. She taught school there from 1910 to 1913, and then entered medical school at the University of Buffalo. Following her graduation in 1917, Dr. Pelham practiced medicine in Detroit, Michigan, where she met and married Bill Newcomb. Newcomb's poor health caused their move to a cabin near Crandon, Wisconsin in 1920. Eleven years later, because the surrounding wilderness area was without a doctor, Kate Newcomb was persuaded to take up the practice of medicine again. Accounts of the dangers she risked and the personal discomforts she experienced are many. But even this dedicated service was inadequate in an area that had no hospital.
Dr. Kate (as the area residents affectionately spoke of her) was acutely aware of the need for a hospital in the Arbor Vitae-Woodruff area. In 1948, she spoke of this to Arthur Rubloff, a wealthy Chicago businessman who owned a summer home in the area, and persuaded him to initiate formation of the Lakeland Memorial Hospital Association to raise funds to build a hospital. Enough money was contributed by area businesses and individuals to lay the cornerstone and begin construction of the building on September 7, 1952. But the funds were soon depleted. An Arbor-Vitae-Woodruff High School class organized a widely publicized and highly successful “million dollar penny drive” in November 1952 so the work could go forward. And Dr. Kate's appeal for funds on the popular This Is Your Life television show on March 17, 1954 resulted in thousands of dollars in contributions. The Lakeland Memorial Hospital was completed and dedicated on July 21, 1954. Dr. Kate Newcomb practiced there until her death on May 30, 1956.
Newcomb's life was chronicled in the book Angel on Snowshoes by Adele Comandini, published in 1956. A final tribute to her was made in 1959 when a plaque was dedicated to “Dr. Kate P. Newcomb, Supporters of Lakeland Memorial Hospital, and The War Dead.”
Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of correspondence; newspaper clippings; Lakeland Memorial Hospital records and miscellaneous publicity releases; and newsletters and miscellaneous papers.
The correspondence (1945, 1953-1959) is not Dr. Newcomb's, but that of Clarence P. Wentland, principal of Arbor Vitae-Woodruff High School, who was active in publicizing and promoting the work of Dr. Kate and the drive to build Lakeland Memorial Hospital. Correspondents include Arthur Rubloff, who initiated the hospital fund; Adele Comandini, author of Angel on Snowshoes; and Edward R. Murrow and Ralph Edwards, hosts of the Person to Person and This Is Your Life television shows. Also included is a series of letters between Wentland and the Reverend Milton Leismas concerning the memorial plaque dedicated to Dr. Newcomb, and other miscellaneous letters concerning contributions to the hospital fund.
The substantive section of the collection is the clippings file. Clippings from The Milwaukee Journal, The Milwaukee Sentinel, The Lakeland Times (Minocqua, Wisconsin), The Rhinelander Daily News, and other newspapers and magazines record the work of Kate Newcomb and the growth of the hospital fund from 1946 to 1959. Clippings from 1960 to 1962 report improvements, new staff, and building additions to Lakeland Memorial Hospital.
Lakeland Memorial Hospital records include the 1956 annual report, a statistical report from February 1958, and minutes of the annual meeting of the Lakeland Memorial Hospital Association on September 8, 1958. Among the publicity releases, newsletters, and other miscellaneous papers from 1948 to 1959, are issues of the Woodruff Compass, the script of the This Is Your Life program that featured Dr. Kate, and several photographs of Penny-Parade Queens and local promotional events.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Clarence Wentland, Madison, Wisconsin, October 6, 1971 and August 28, 1972. Accession Number: M71-284, M72-335
Processed by C. Backus (archives intern) and Joanne Hohler, September 30, 1974.
Contents List
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Mss 320
Box
1
Folder
1
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Correspondence, 1945, 1953-1959
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Newspaper clippings
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Box
1
Folder
2
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1946-1952
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Box
1
Folder
3
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1953
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Box
1
Folder
4
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1954
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Box
1
Folder
5
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1955
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Box
1
Folder
6
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1956
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Box
1
Folder
7
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1957-1962
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Box
1
Folder
8
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Lakeland Memorial Hospital records, 1956, 1958-1959
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Box
1
Folder
9
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Miscellaneous newsletters, publicity releases, and papers, 1948-1959
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PH Mss 320
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Photographs
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