Children at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics:
A Photographic History

Doctors and Nurses with Infants Circa 1890 75. Doctors and nurses with infants Courtesy of the State Historical Society of Iowa

76. House call Courtesy of the State Historical Society of Iowa

House Call 1893 The family physician, Dr. Battey, is shown weighing Robert K. Mather as his grandmother looks on. The doctor made calls to homes in the area near Springdale, IA, east of West Branch.

Baby Room Children's Hospital 1919 Pediatrics was housed in the west wing of Children's Hospital; there was one large ward for twenty babies and children under two years of age. 77. Baby Room Courtesy of University of Iowa Archives, Main Library #145-28

The Iowa Child Welfare Research Station (ICWRS)

The Iowa Child Welfare Research Station (later the Iowa Institute of Child Behavior and Development) was the first center in the country to study, by scientific methods, the development of the normal child. It was established in 1917 after 20 years of lobbying by Cora Bussey Hillis. Thanks to her crusade, the University of Iowa is recognized as a pioneer in child development and welfare. Researchers at the facility, led first by Bird T. Baldwin (1917-1928) and next by George D. Stoddard (1928-1942), produced influential studies on children's IQ, speech, and physical development. Many institutions and programs in this and other countries have been patterned after the example of the Iowa Child Welfare Research Station. The Institute was dissolved in the early 1970s.

78. Measuring height and weight Courtesy of University of Iowa Archives, Main Library

Measuring Height and Weight Iowa Child Welfare Research Station (ICWRS) circa 1920 In 1936, Research Associate Bernice Boynton, PhD, of the ICWRS published her fourteen-year-long study, The Physical Growth of Girls: a Study of the Rhythm of Physical Growth from Anthropometric Measurements on Girls between Birth and Eighteen Years. Dr. Boynton's study, based on over 55,000 measurements of 1,241 caucasian Iowa City girls, was begun in September 1920 and completed in May 1935. It was published as the companion to a similar study done at the Research Station on the physical growth of boys. The studies were useful in determining sex differences in physical stature and trends in weight gain. Jointly, the studies demonstrated that "on the average, girls are taller than boys throughout the age range eleven to fourteen years; from thirteen to eighteen years girls show an increase in subcutaneous [fatty] tissue, while boys decrease. As with boys, wide variations in the time of onset of adolescence, and its duration, make the prediction of stature precarious. In the case of girls, such prediction is unreliable after the age of nine."

Children of the ICWRS Preschool Laboratories
circa 1920

"Monday morning, the day the school began, I counted seven of the children's fathers looking in the windows at once," said Mrs. Hoover, the teacher in charge.

79. Children of the ICWRS Preschool Laboratories
--"Sashes, Slides, Train Wrecks and Fun Mix in the New Pre-School Laboratory," Daily Iowan, October 20, 1921. Courtesy of University of Iowa Archives, Main Library; #196-254

Children Washing Dishes ICWRS Preschool Laboratories circa 1924 Play was combined with practice in many activities in the Preschool Laboratories. Children's desire to imitate or model others' behavior and actions at the ages of three and four provided teachers with the opportunity to teach daily tasks and responsibilities concerning hygiene in the playroom setting. 80. Children washing dishes Courtesy of University of Iowa Archives, Main Library; #196-257

Girl Watering Plants ICWRS Preschool Laboratories circa 1924 Nature studies were important to the preschool curriculum to encourage intellectual development. Watering plants also helped to develop motor coordination and to teach the children responsibility. 81. Girl watering plants Courtesy of University of Iowa Archives, Main Library; #196-68

ICWRS Staff Weighing an Infant circa 1920 82. ICWRS staff weighing an infant Courtesy of University of Iowa Archives, Main Library; #196-259A
	Bird T. Baldwin, Director of ICWRS and Student Nurse Measuring the Length of a Baby circa 1920 83. Bird T. Baldwin, Director of ICWRS and Student Nurse Measuring the Length of a Baby Courtesy of University of Iowa Archives, Main Library; #196-27
Research Assistant Timing A Performance Test ICWRS Preschool Laboratories circa 1920 The form board test, used to assess motor skills and intelligence, consisted of a board with large, cut out shapes to which the child would match corresponding forms. The child was tested for speed and accuracy. 84. Research Assistant Timing A Performance Test Courtesy of University of Iowa Archives, Main Library; #196-04

Nutrition Interns in Formula Room
circa 1925

The Formula Room of the Children's Hospital prepared both standard and special infant formulas according to individual need. Vitamins and minerals were added to fortify the babies' diets, and the formulas were then bottled and sterilized. Great care was taken to keep the bacterial count under specified limits. As many as 22 different formulas were prepared to meet the dietary requirements of a population of approximately 80 infants. Today, a wide variety of formulas are commercially available. However, for certain medical conditions, formulas must still be individually prepared to meet the special needs of some infants.

With the advent of a wide variety of commercially prepared formulas, there was no longer a need for a large formula room. When the Department of Pediatrics moved into General Hospital from the Children's Hospital in 1954, the Formula Room was replaced by a smaller unit in General Hospital.

85. Nutrition Interns in Formula Room
Courtesy of University of Iowa Archives, Main Library; #145-116

86. Left-hand side of display

87. Middle of display

88. Right-hand side of display

Fetal Stethoscope
Replica of model, circa 1890

This monaural design was used to listen to the heartbeat of a fetus within its mother's womb. An aluminum version of this wooden replica was used until 1910.

On Loan from the University of Iowa College of Medicine, #007

Intubation Set
circa 1920

Intubation, a technique developed in the United States by Dr. J. O'Dwyer in 1880, was used to treat the childhood disease diphtheria during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A major complication of the disease was the formation of a membrane over the trachea, which made breathing difficult or impossible. As a non-surgical relief for the suffocation related to this and other tracheal and respiratory illnesses, intubation was widely accepted by many doctors and, in serious cases, replaced tracheotomy as the last resort.

The metal tubes (which came in various sizes to accommodate patients of all ages) were inserted into the larynx with the forceps; a catch on the forceps removed the inner core of the tube, forming an airway. After a few days, when the illness subsided, the tube was removed with different forceps which locked onto the tube for withdrawal.

Deftness and familiarity with these instruments was very important. Though the whole operation took no more than 10 seconds, the risk of mispositioning the tube - perhaps into the esophagus - was always possible.

Donor Roxy McLaren, MD, a 1975 graduate of The University of Iowa College of Medicine, received this set as a medical school graduation gift from her family physician, Dr. R.M. Needles. The original owner was Dr. H. E. Campbell of Anita, IA. Dr. Campbell's brother was also a physician and the family doctor for the Needles family from the time Dr. Needles was born in 1907.

"These were from the instruments of Dr. H.E. Campbell of Anita, IA, which I purchased when I started practice in Anita in 1935," Dr. Needles wrote. "I, of course, never used the intubation set. Although I had diphtheria cases when I practiced in Anita and these were treated with serum."

Braces
1949

These braces were worn by a boy who was stricken with polio in 1949 at age 13. "Ted" never walked again, but was able to graduate from high school - a major accomplishment for a paraplegic in the 1950s - and become an office manager for a group of veterinarians. Ted also bought a car and had a friend who was a mechanic install hand controls, thus providing a means of freedom during a time when such things were comparatively rare.

Anonymous gift to the UIHC Medical Museum
MM Accn. #136