Helen Evangeline Banks Harrison (1898-1985) Papers

 

Avery Research Center Manuscript Number 1032

 

Biographical Note:

 

Born in Hampton, Virginia in 1898, Helen (often called Evangeline, or “Vangi”) Banks, the daughter of Issiah and Anna DeCosta Banks, came to Charleston, SC as a child and spent most of her life there. She attended city schools, Avery Normal Institute, and Howard University. In 1922 she married Armistead B. Harrison (1893-1985), son of Charles Alonzo Harrison (1876-1942), rector (1918-1936) of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, and long time barber and eventual owner of Felder’s Barbershop in Charleston, SC.  In 1935, she began working as clerk in the out patient clinic of Charleston’s segregated Hospital and Training School for Nurses, where her mother served as superintendent of nursing for 35 years. Harrison became Medical Records Librarian at McClennan-Banks Memorial Hospital, the successor organization to the Hospital and Training School, partly named in honor of her mother. Evangeline Banks Harrison retired in 1966 and continued to serve a number of women’s, social and civic organization, including the Charleston Chapter of LINKS, of which she was a charter member. Mrs. Harrison died in 1985 a few months after her husband.

 

Scope and Content: Approx 1 linear foot; (ca. 1850s – ca. 1985, bulk, 1940s – 50s)

 

The collection consists of personal materials and those documenting Harrison’s mother, Anna DeCosta Banks, the Hospital and Training School for Nurses and McClennan-Banks hospital. Personal papers of Evangeline Banks Harrison and her family include her Avery Institute graduation program (1917), a school essay, biographical data, inspirational clippings, photographs, including an unidentified daguerreotype (ca. 1850s) and a sporadically kept diary (ca. 1937-40s). Armistead Harrison materials document his membership in the Owls Whist Club and his long time career as a barber at Felder’s Barbershop, Charleston, SC. Anna DeCosta Banks materials include photos, biographical data, diplomas, etc. There are early graduation programs from the Hospital and Training School for Nurses, and clippings and notes re the history of the segregated hospital founded by Dr. Alonzo McClennan including photocopies of some issues of The Hospital Herald journal he edited. Included are constitutions, bylaws, charters, etc. of that institution and its successor, the McClennan-Banks Memorial Hospital. With significant correspondence (1947-1959) re the closing of the earlier institution, and the struggle to secure financing, etc. to support a hospital to treat African Americans.  Those active in the debate included the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, Roper Hospital and Medical Society of South Carolina, the city of Charleston, and the county of Charleston which eventually took responsibility for a new structure. Correspondents include hospital officers, Thomas Carr McFall, Samuel J. Poinsette, building designer Augustus E. Constantine, other architects, a representative of the Society for Preservation of Spirituals, and Harold S. (Dick) Reeves, wanting to hold a Gullah reading to raise money.  With some miscellaneous materials re hospital staff and their descendants.

 

Note: A related collection of McClennan-Banks Memorial Hospital materials consists of photocopies of materials given to the Waring Historical Library by Evangeline Banks Harrison.

 

Harrison, Helen Evangeline Banks, 1898 – 1985

Banks, Anna DeCosta, 1869-1930

Harrison, Armistead, 1893-1985

McClennan, Alonzo, 1855 - 1912

McFall, Thomas Carr, Dr., 1908 – 1969

Constantine, Augustus, 1898 - 1976

Reeves, Harold S., 1890 -1972

Hospital and Training School for Nurses, Charleston, SC

McClennan-Banks Memorial Hospital, Charleston, SC

Felder’s Barbershop – Charleston, SC

Owls Whist Club - Charleston, SC

African American men – clubs

African American Nurses – South Carolina – Charleston

African American barbers – South Carolina – Charleston

Architects – South Carolina – Charleston

African Americans – South Carolina –Charleston – History

Nursing – Study and Teaching – South Carolina – Charleston

Nursing schools – South Carolina – Charleston

Hospitals – South Carolina – Charleston

Catholic Diocese – South Carolina

Health care – segregation

 

Diplomas

Diary

Photographs

Daguerreotype

 

 

Avery Manuscript Number 1032

 

 

 

Box #

I

Personal papers

Folder #

 

 

 

1

Certificates of appreciation, and biographical data re Evangeline Banks Harrison;

1-1

 

including nomination (1967) for Woman of the Year, Charleston Chapter, LINKS, Inc.

 

 

 

2

Commencement booklet (1917) from Avery Normal Institute; with holograph essay

1-2

 

by Evangeline Banks re influences of heroes on culture, mothers on families, etc.

 

 

 

 

3

Five year  diary of Evangeline Banks Harrison, commencing 1937, with only sporadic

1-3

 

notations, mostly re excursions, anniversaries, etc. With later (1980s) notations, as

 

 

well, and two locks of hair

 

 

 

 

4

Correspondence and miscellaneous. A few letters to Evangeline Banks Harrison,

1-4

 

including one with data re "Negro Artisans and Craftsmen of the Pre-Civil War

 

 

Period" and "Contemporary [ca. 1940] Negro Artists" With list of duties of medical

 

 

records librarian

 

 

 

 

5

Clippings and photocopies of mostly inspirational poems from papers and magazines,

1-5

 

with some re local history; some handwritten poems and sayings on prescription

 

 

pad sheets, "Outdoor Clinic, Hospital and Training School"

 

 

 

 

6

Photocopies of clippings of death and funeral notices of friends and family; funeral

1-6

 

programs of William Lawrence (1981) and Emmett Lampkin (1962); wedding

 

 

program of Millicent Brown and Aquilo Lipscomb

 

 

 

 

7

Armistead Harrison materials - clippings, plaque, certificate, programs (1939, 1974)

1-7

 

and speech re Owls Whist Club and Harrison's membership in it

 

 

 

 

8

Armistead Harrison materials , including clippings and correspondence re Felder's

1-8

 

Barbershop and his long tenure there; most materials removed from a scrapbook of

 

 

tributes compiled in 1980 at the time of his retirement

 

 

 

 

9

Photocopies of clippings re Armistead and Evangeline Banks Harrison

1-9

 

 

 

10

Miscellaneous, mostly social, materials, including wedding invitations of Armistead

1-10

 

Harrison and Evangeline Banks (1922) and Anna DeCosta and Issiah Banks (1894), 

 

 

with some family data; engraving plates and two handkerchiefs.

 

 

 

 

11

Photographs; studio images of Evangeline and Armistead Harrison; with two candid

1-11

 

images of the latter in his barbershop; with a daguerreotype of an unidentified man,

 

 

metal casing loose in larger case.

 

 

 

 

12

Photocopies, clippings correspondence, etc. re 1979 gift of Anna DeCosta Banks

1-12

 

materials to Waring Historical Library, Medical University of SC

 

 

 

 

13

Photocopies, clippings and handwritten tributes re Anna DeCosta Banks and her role

2-1

 

in the Hospital and Training School for Nurses

 

 

 

 

14

Photographs, certificates, diplomas etc. of Anna DeCosta Banks

2-2

 

 

 

15

Oversize diploma  (1891)of Anna DeCosta, Hampton Institute (1891) and oversize

2-3

 

diploma (1917) of Helen Evangeline Banks, Avery Normal Institute

Oversize

 

 

 

II

Hospital and Training School for Nurses Historical Papers

 

 

 

 

1

History of the Hospital And Training School for Nurses (ca. 1900 typescript); with

2-4

 

later brief handwritten and typed histories and lists of directors and officers; with

 

 

a photocopy of a ca. 1905 report assessing hospital's effectiveness.

 

 

 

 

2

Photocopies of monthly journal (April 1899-Jan 1900) The Hospital Herald edited

2-5

 

by Dr. Alonzo McClennan, "devoted to Hospital Work, Nurse training, domestic and

 

 

public Hygiene." With much information re the needs and work of the Hospital and

 

 

Training School for Nurses

 

 

 

 

3

Hospital and Training School graduation programs (1906-1909, 1911) with photocopy

2-6

 

of  1927 program, photocopies of images of nurses; and a photograph (ca. 1950s)

 

 

of the building. The early programs list the names of the graduates from 1899 on

 

 

 

 

4

Various programs (1959-1992) re the Hospital and Training School and its successor

2-7

 

organization, the McClennan-Banks Memorial Hospital  and the McClennan Banks

 

 

Alcohol and Drug Center

 

 

 

 

5

Mostly photocopies of newspaper clippings, ca. 1930-1979 re Hospital and Training

2-8

 

School and its successor, McClennan-Bank Hospital, and some staff members

 

 

 

 

II

Hospital and Training School/McClennan-Banks Administrative Papers

 

 

 

 

1

Governing papers include constitution and bylaws of Hospital and Training School;

2-9

 

and that of McClennan-Banks; with duties of officers. With transcript of original 1898

 

 

charter of incorporation; and that (1958) of McClennan-Banks; and agreement (1958)

 

 

between County of Charleston and McClennan-Banks re hospital's operation

 

 

 

 

2

Minutes of  three meetings (1950s) of various committees, etc. re construction

2-10

 

management of McClennan-Banks Memorial Hospital

 

 

 

 

3

Correspondence (1947-1949) with Catholic Diocese of Charleston, County of 

2-11

 

Charleston and others re potential financial and administrative help to Hospital and 

 

 

Training School. With letter (1949) of County Health Office Leon Banov re pay

 

 

discrimination to a black nurse. Correspondents include Samuel J. Poinsette and 

 

 

Thomas C. McFall.

 

 

 

 

4

Correspondence of (1950-53) of T. C. McFall,  Medical Director, and S. J.

2-12

 

Poinsette,  President of the Hospital and Training School, with a variety of others re

 

 

need for new building, funds, partnership, and inability to meet state standards. Many

 

 

letters refer to Rev. Amos Carnegie's untrustworthy scheme to raise funds, with letters

 

 

of architect Augustus Constantine, County Council, City of Charleston, the

 

 

Society for the Preservation of Spirituals (donating to the building fund) and H.S. 

 

 

Reeves wanting to hold Gullah programs to help fund the project.

 

 

 

 

5

Correspondence (1954-55) of the Hospital and Training School re meeting state

2-13

 

licensing standards and correspondence with Roper Hospital and the Medical Society