Griffin Hospital

COLLECTION HISTORY

The people behind the place.

The hospital’s centennial report dates a Derby Hospital charter to 1901, groundbreaking for a twenty-four-bed institution to 1908 and the Griffin name to 1909. The hospital opened on December 6, 1909; the first patient arrived on December 9. Separating those dates explains how an opening ceremony or institutional milestone can precede the first recorded admission. [ED084-S01]

Later milestones in the same report trace practical growth: a first nursing-school graduation in 1912, an additional ward in a nearby house in 1918, fifty-seven beds by 1919 and a 1925 addition accompanied by the first motor ambulance. These events connect architecture to staff training and transport. They describe successive changes, not a single expansion completed at one moment. [ED084-S01]

The small opening-era postcard offers a visual starting point but cannot replace a high-resolution archival original or a complete building plan. Its date and source limitations remain attached. A photograph of a building can establish visible form, while the report provides an institutional chronology. Individual patient experiences and daily nursing work require records that address those subjects directly. [ED084-S02] [ED084-S01]

Yale affiliation in 1970 adds a later organizational chapter to a local Valley beginning. The hospital’s own centennial publication is valuable as a collected history, but it is also an anniversary presentation. This approach keeps the early donors and leadership visible while making room for the people who sustained everyday care. [ED084-S01]