Mapping Care Project: The History of Black Nurses in Chicago

Chicago Public Library/Woodson Regional/Harsh Research Collection

Leonidas Berry Papers (Selected Series items)

9525 S. Halsted Street,
Chicago, Illinois, 60628
https://www.chipublib.org/vivian-g-harsh-research-collection/
Image: Cook County Graduate School, Gastroscopy Course, circa 1958, courtesy of Chicago Public Library, Harsh Research Collection, Leonidas Berry Papers, series 10, box 15, photo 028

Title:              
Leonidas Berry Papers
Content:        
The Leonidas Berry Papers document the life and career of Leonidas Berry and include important materials illuminating the history of Provident Hospital. This collection is arranged into 11 series: Biography, Manuscripts, Correspondence, Provident Hospital and Cook County Hospital, Programs, Civil Rights and Subject Files, African American Medical History, Organization Files, Serials, Photographs and Memorabilia. Only selected items (Manuscripts, Provident Hospital and Cook County Hospital, Photographs, and Memorabilia) pertaining to Black nurses is indicated in this finding aid.

Leonidas H. Berry was born July 20, 1902 in Woodsdale, N.C. Berry earned two bachelor of science degrees: one from Wilberforce University in 1924 and another from the University of Chicago in 1925. He earned a medical degree from Rush Medical College in 1929 and a Master of Science in pathology from the University of Illinois in 1933. Berry also received an honorary Doctor of Science from Wilberforce University in 1945 and an honorary law degree from Lincoln University in 1983.

From 1929 to 1930, Berry interned at the Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington, D.C. In 1931 he entered residency at Cook County Hospital in Chicago and became the first black intern at this facility. Berry completed his internal medicine and gastroenterology residency at Cook County Hospital in 1935. In 1934 he became a junior attending physician in gastroenterology at Chicago’s Provident Hospital, the first black-owned and operated hospital in the United States. One year after this appointment, Berry became the chairman of the hospital’s Division of Gastroenterology and held this position until 1970. At Provident, Berry also was the chairman of the Department of Medicine from 1947 to 1949 and senior attending physician from 1963 to 1980.

While working at Provident, Berry joined the staff at Michael Reese Hospital in 1946 and became the first black physician on staff at this facility. For 17 years, he engaged in a battle over his application to be named to the attending staff at Michael Reese Hospital. When Berry made his first formal application in 1959, he was already known worldwide as one of the most distinguished gastroenterologists. He also had taught gastroenterology at Cook County Hospital and at Michael Reese Hospital for 17 years. Yet he was repeatedly deemed “not qualified” for the rank of attending staff. On December 10, 1963, Berry made one final appeal to a Michael Reese Trustee Board committee. At the age of 61 he told the committee that it was the civil rights movement that convinced him to refuse to wait any longer. “I have spent many years of crushing disappointment at the threshold of opportunity,” he wrote, “keeping my lamps trimmed and bright for a bride that never came.” On December 20, 1963, Michael Reese Hospital named Berry to its attending staff. For the rest of his career, Berry held the position of senior attending physician at Michael Reese Hospital.
Dates:             
1891-1995
Size:               
17 linear feet (23 archival boxes)
Access:           
Unrestricted
Language:     
English
Inventory:
Series 2: Manuscripts, 1935-1994
The manuscripts have been arranged chronologically and consist mainly of medical articles and essays by Leonidas Berry.
Box #Folder #Title Identifier
Box 2Folder 30Manuscripts, Berry, Leonidas, “Is Provident Worth Saving?” 1976
Box 2Folder 35Manuscripts, Berry, Leonidas, Speech of Response at Testimonial for 50 Years Emeritus Staff, Provident Hospital, Chicago, 1983
Box 2Folder 36Manuscripts, Berry, Leonidas, Provident Hospital Day, 1983
Box 2Folder 43Manuscripts, Berry, Leonidas, “Provident Medical Center: The Odyssey of a Biracial Hospital in Chicago,” ca. 1985
Box 2Folder 46Manuscripts, Berry, Leonidas, “Compromise Plan for Provident Hospital Problem,” 1988
Box 3Folder 1Manuscripts, Berry, Leonidas, “County Hospital, Provident Must Link,” 1988
Box 3Folder 5Manuscripts, Berry, Leonidas, “Health Care with Provident and Cook County Now,” 1990
Box 3Folder 7Manuscripts, Berry, Leonidas, “Beginning of the Provident Story,” 1992
Box 3Folder 15Manuscripts, Berry, Leonidas, Provident Medical Staff Foundation, n.d.
Series 4: Provident Hospital and Cook County Hospital, 1891-1993
Arranged chronologically, the Provident Hospital and Cook County Hospital series details Leonidas Berry’s tenure at these medical facilities. This series also documents the history of Provident Hospital, its closing and its reopening as a unit of Cook County Hospital. Included are correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, research proposals and clippings.
Box #Folder #Title Identifier
Box 5Folder 1Provident Hospital, 1891
Box 5Folder 2Provident Hospital, 1931-1938
Box 5Folder 3Provident Hospital, 1941-1947
Box 5Folder 4Provident Hospital, 1948-1949
Box 5Folder 5Provident Hospital, 1940s
Box 5Folder 6Provident Hospital, 1950-1952
Box 5Folder 7Provident Hospital, 1953-1959
Box 5Folder 8Provident Hospital, 1950s
Box 5Folder 9Provident Hospital, 1960-1968
Box 5Folder 10Provident Hospital, 1960s
Box 5Folder 11Provident Hospital, 1970-1975
Box 5Folder 12Provident Hospital, 1976-1977
Box 5Folder 13Provident Hospital, 1981-1987
Box 5Folder 14Provident Hospital, n.d.
Box 5Folder 15Cook County Hospital, Provident Hospital Location, 1987-1993; n.d.
Series 10: Photographs, 1891-1993
Photographs provide visual documentation of Leonidas Berry’s life and work. Included are photographs of Berry’s family, travels, and medical research and work.
Box #Item #Item Identifier
Box 15Photo 001Provident Hospital Incorporation Papers, 1891
Box 15Photo 002Provident Hospital Incorporation Papers, 1891
Box 15Photo 003Provident Hospital Nursing Class, 1897
Box 15Photo 004Provident Hospital Original Building, 1891-1898
Box 15Photo 005Provident Hospital Nursing Classes, 1923
Box 15Photo 006First Medical Staff of Greater Provident Hospital, 1933
Box 15Photo 008Provident Hospital, Attending Staff, Resident Staff and Board of Trustees, 1938
Box 15Photo 009“A Few Minutes With…” Provident Hospital Brochure, ca. 1940
Box 15Photo 0101st Annual Dinner Meeting Program [outside], Department of Medicine, Provident Hospital, 1947
Box 15Photo 0111st Annual Dinner Meeting Program [inside], Department of Medicine, Provident Hospital, 1947
Box 15Photo 0122nd Annual Dinner Meeting, Department of Medicine, Provident Hospital, June 1948
Box 15Photo 013CCPA Monthly Meeting at Provident Hospital, February 1949
Box 15Photo 014Exhibit for American College of Surgeons at Provident Hospital, ca. 1950
Box 15Photo 015Provident Hospital Exterior, ca. 1958
Series 10: Photographs, 1891-1993, continued
Box #Item #Item Identifier
Box 15Photo 016Leonidas Berry, Dr. Ulysses Grant Dailey and Dr. David Johnson, Testimonial Dinner for Dr. Dailey, Provident Hospital, 1960
Box 15Photo 018Dr. John W. Coleman performing radiological procedure at Provident Hospital, 1960
Box 15Photo 021Donation of Gastro Camera to Provident Hospital, 1971
Box 15Photo 022Provident Hospital Groundbreaking for New Hospital, 1973-1974
Box 15Photo 023Provident Hospital Groundbreaking for New Hospital, 1973-1974
Box 15Photo 024A Living Legacy, Provident Hospital and Medical Center, 1982
Box 15Photo 025Opening Celebration, New Provident Hospital, 1993
Box 15Photo 028Cook County Graduate School, Gastroscopy Course, ca. 1958
Box 16Photo 057Michael Reese Staff Nurses, Bio-Medical Careers Programs, 1964
Box 16Photo 076Lillie General, R.N., Provident Hospital; Ralston Reid, Williams Clinic; Donald Gater, medical technician; and Arnita Foster, laboratory assistant at the clinic at Ward Chapel A.M.E., Cairo, IL, 1970
Box 17Photo 142Dr. Roscoe Giles, Sr. attending physician, Cook County Hospital, 1950-1955, and former chair of surgery at Provident Hospital, n.d.
Series 11: Memorabilia, 1942-1991
Memorabilia consists of business cards, invitations, certificates and citations, poems and sheet music. Of particular interest are busts of Dr. Daniel Hale Williams and Imhotep.
Box #Folder #Item Identifier
Box 19Folder 15Memorabilia, Provident Button, ca. 1980s (?)