This project was supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian Made accessible through a grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation and Photo Friends
Authorized by War Department General Order 48 on August 24 1943, Van Nuys General Hospital opened in early 1944 to serve as both a general and debarkation hospital. It was soon renamed in honor of Brigadier General Henry Patrick Birmingham (1854-1932), Medical Corps, U.S. Army. Birmingham Veterans Administration Hospital operated until 1950 and was acquired by Los Angeles City Schools a year or two later for the token price of $1.00. In 1953, Birmingham High School opened as a 7-12 grade school. Part of the high school campus was used as an air defense missile battalion headquarters from April 1956 to November 1968. Photograph caption dated May 4, 1950 reads, "Hopes blasted - Harold L. Bolick, 35, a tuberculosis patient at Birmingham Hospital, was planning to buy Valley home for wife and two children. 'Fog and cold weather at Long Beach are very bad for TB sufferers,' said the Air Force veteran who was stricken with disease during 13 months with Italian partisans after being shot down."; See image #00111183 for additional photo in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;26 x 21 cm. Photographic prints
Birmingham Veterans Administration Hospital (Los Angeles, Calif.) Veterans' hospitals--California--Van Nuys (Los Angeles) Hospitals--California--Van Nuys (Los Angeles) Paraplegics--California--Los Angeles Tuberculosis--Patients--California--Los Angeles Veterans--United States Men--California--Los Angeles Van Nuys (Los Angeles, Calif.) Portrait photographs Valley Times Collection photographs
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