The records provide relatively complete documentation about the activities of the hospital auxiliary from its inception in 1953 to its dissolution in 1991. Unfortunately, basic records documenting the formation and early years of the organization are missing, although these activities are represented in the microfilmed scrapbooks and in the organizational newsletter. The records are organized as Background Material, Administrative Records, Activity Records, and Publicity.
The BACKGROUND MATERIAL relates to Manitowoc Memorial Hospital and to the Wisconsin Hospital Association Auxiliaries rather than to the Manitowoc auxiliary itself. Although the information about the hospital is far from complete, it suggests some of the main themes in the institution's history. The most comprehensive coverage is offered by the microfilmed hospital scrapbooks, which extend from the first public mention of Memorial's creation in 1948 through 1988. Generally, the scrapbooks include news stories about hospital governance, staff, construction, and special outreach programs. Also useful, although dating only from the period 1979 to 1985 are copies of the Memorial Messenger (Vol. 8-16), a hospital publication which contained news of the hospital and the auxiliary, and several illustrated brochures. Minutes of the hospital board are even less complete, although during the 1960s, they are supplemented by monthly reports of Alan Case, the hospital administrator. For the limited period they cover, the reports include statistics on medical services and occupancy as well as financial and narrative information about operations and occasional information about the auxiliary. Several reports issued by administrators to the medical staff are also included. This section also includes miscellaneous hospital publications and several documents relating to long-range planning.
The small correspondence file is of unknown origin. Although miscellaneous and fragmentary in character, it contains some important letters from hospital administrators about the organization of the medical staff and preparation of the by-laws, cost-saving measures implemented in 1954, on-going competition with Holy Family Hospital, and management opposition to the organization of a union of hospital employees in 1965.
About the Wisconsin Hospital Association Auxiliaries, the collection contains manuals designed to guide activities of local organizations. Minutes of one WHAA meeting included here contains a mention of Mrs. Harold A. Kugler who served as an unpaid volunteer coordinator with Manitowoc Memorial Hospital for many years and who also served a four-year term as head of WHAA.
ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS relate to the internal activities of the auxiliary, and they consist chiefly of by-laws, minutes, and financial and membership records of the auxiliary. The minutes do not begin until 1958, but they are virtually complete for the remainder of the organization's history. Interspersed with minutes of the board are occasional records of general membership, executive board, and financial and other committee meetings. The minutes of the final meetings suggest something of the controversy which surrounded the closing of Memorial Hospital. The financial reports consist of monthly and annual reports, audits, and reports of the gift shop, as well as occasional reports on special fundraising activities. Membership records consist of annual lists of members and officers and, for the period not covered by printed lists, record cards. The way in which volunteers were oriented is documented by several policy manuals and descriptive tours of the hospital.
Only a portion of the auxiliary's many programs are represented in the ACTIVITY RECORDS; most extensive are the files on the Candy Striper volunteer program and records of the card party, Country Festival, and Pie and Ice Cream fundraisers. The Candy Striper program is represented by several years of applications which detail the work experience and career plans of these teenage volunteers, training and policy manuals (some from other hospitals), and miscellaneous correspondence. The three major fundraisers are all represented by similar material: remarkably detailed subcommittee reports and press material. (Additional information about each of these events is included in the microfilmed scrapbooks described below.) The auxiliary also raised money in order to provide scholarships for young people in the community interested in careers in medicine. The scholarship files include lists of recipients and award amounts, blank application forms, and correspondence.
The Publicity Records include a complete run of the Memorial Volunteer, a newsletter published three times per year; photographs; and microfilmed scrapbooks. The scrapbooks are divided into a general chronological series, and special volumes that cover the Candy Striper program from 1965 to 1990 and the Country Festival from 1953 to 1961.
