SOURCE: Charles L. Foster, Administrator, 1986, 1992

SIZE: 9 linear feet

SHELVING UNITS: 7 records center boxes

1 vertical document box

1 flat storage box (audio visuals)

1 framed photograph

PROCESSING: RAA, 1992

HISTORICAL NOTE

The LaGrange Sanitorium was chartered in November 1902, and admitted its first patients early in 1903. Dr. Henry R. Slack was the principal investor and served as superintendent. It was located at the corner of Haralson and Church Streets. In 1916, a bequest from Joseph E. Dunson, matched by the City of LaGrange and a donation from Dr. Slack, allowed the City to acquire the sanitorium with its forty beds and two operating rooms. The name was changed to Dunson Hospital. By 1935, a larger, more modern facility was needed. Dr. Ruben O'Neal and Dr. James Holder led an effort to construct a sixty-five bed hospital on land donated by the Callaway family on Vernon Road. Funded by the City of LaGrange, Troup County, and various charitable foundations, this Works Progress Administration project opened on August 17, 1937. City-County Hospital continued to expand and upgrade services and became a regional medical facility. In 1975, the name was changed to West Georgia Medical Center.

For more information see Glenda Major's Paid In Kind; The History of Medicine In Troup County, Georgia, 1830-1930.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

Beginning in 1932, minutes of the Board of Trustees trace the growth and development of the facility from Dunson Hospital to West Georgia Medical Center. Fiscal matters, personnel, equipment and facilities are the main topics of business recorded in the minutes. Administrators' reports give an annual account of the hospital's status. Minutes from miscellaneous medical staff meetings, 1937-1973, indicate numbers of patients and types of illnesses treated at the hospital and document the guidelines followed by physicians associated with the hospital. Records are arranged in chronological order. [Note: West Georgia Medical Center has microfilm copies of these records.]

Ground breaking ceremonies for the Medical Center in 1971 featuring Governor Jimmy Carter as speaker and Fuller E. Callaway, Jr. Appreciation Day, June 18, 1982, are recorded on cassette. The collection includes one photograph of Joseph Eugene Dunson, benefactor of the 1916 hospital.

CONTAINER LIST

Box 1

Volume 1 By-laws of Medical Staff, 1959-1970

5-8 Medical Staff Minutes, 1938-1957

Box 2

Volume 9-12 Medical Staff Minutes, 1958-1970

Box 3

Volume 13 Medical Staff Minutes, 1971-1973

14-15 Surgical Staff Minutes, 1964-1973

16 Medical Records Committee Minutes, 1968-1973

17 Medical Conference Minutes, 1960-1973

Box 4

Volume 2 Board of Trustees Minutes, 1932-1937

3-4 Board of Trustees Minutes, 1941-1966

Box 5 Board of Trustees Minutes, 1966-1979

Box 6 Board of Trustees Minutes, 1979-1985

Board of Trustees Executive Committee Minutes, 1967- 1985

Box 7 Board of Trustees Planning and Priority Committee, 1968-1985

Board of Trustees Budget and Finance Committee, 1971- 1985

Board of Trustees Joint Conference Committee, 1975- 1985

Box 8 Board of Trustees House Administration Committee, 1968-1985

Board of Trustees Accreditation Committee, 1972-1982

Board of Trustees Cost Effectiveness Committee, 1981- 1982

Board of Trustees miscellaneous short-term committees, 1968-1980

Box 9 Audio and audiovisual cassettes

Item 1 Audio cassette - ground breaking for West Georgia Medical Center, Gov. Jimmy Carter, 17 May 1971

2 Video cassette - Fuller E. Callaway, Jr. Appreciation Day, 18 June 1982

Photographs

ph1 Joseph E. Dunson (1865-1916), c.1900

TRACINGS

Callaway, Fuller E., Jr.

Carter, Jimmy, Governor

City-County Hospital

Dunson, Joseph Eugene

Hospital Records