St. Luke's Hospital

Known today as St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, the hospital was founded by William Augustus Muhlenberg in 1846 and started admitting patients in 1858. It was located at 5th Avenue and 54th Street before moving to its location on Amsterdam Avenue and 114th Street in 1896. Initially, the hospital occupied five buildings with continued expansion through the 1950s. In the early 1950s, St. Luke’s and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons established an affiliation. The first open-heart surgery in New York City was conducted at St. Luke’s in 1955. St. Luke’s Hospital neighbors Columbia University’s Morningside campus and sits to the north of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. St. Luke’s merged with Roosevelt Hospital in 1979. I plan to explore the building of St. Luke’s in Morningside Heights, how the hospital has responded to the community and its relationship with Columbia University.

Nancy Friedland

Author: Nancy Friedland

Nancy Friedland is the Librarian for Film Studies and Performing Arts. She began work at Columbia in 1995 as the Assistant Undergraduate Librarian. By 1996, she was tasked with helping to develop the Butler Media Collection, Butler Media Center and related services. She continues to serve as the primary selector for the Butler Media Collection and as the liaison to students and faculty in the School of the Arts. She is currently President of Theatre Library Association. She is also a Visiting Associate Professor at the Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science and the Palmer School of Library and Information Science. Her personal research interests include costume design for film and theatre, New York City history, Yiddish theatre and digital humanities and the performing arts. Her focus for the Morningside Project is St. Luke’s Hospital.