Banner Health System
Photograph collection, 1940s-1960s (Photo 2014)
42 photographic prints
2 photograph albums (173 photographic prints)
369 slides
5 film negatives
History
Lutheran Hospitals and Homes Society was founded on January 3, 1938 in Fargo, N.D. Its origins pre-date to the establishment in 1922 of the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society by Rev. August Hoeger, Rev. W.W.A. Keller and F.J. Koehn. The next year, 1923, they opened the Good Samaritan Home in Arthur, N.D. The organization grew rapidly, adding numerous communities and facilities.
By 1937 the Good Samaritan Society was having serious financial problems, with the threat of collapse. On December 6, 1937 Fred Knautz presented a plan of reorganization at the board meeting. His plan called for a new organization with a new name, Lutheran Hospitals and Homes Society of America. The society was formally incorporated on January 3, 1938, and the new board assumed operation of only some of the institutions that were being turned over to it by the Good Samaritan Society. Frederick R. Knautz became general manager of the new organization and continued in that capacity until 1968.
LHHS began with seven hospitals and nursing homes in North and South Dakota. By 1992 it was operating 206 nursing homes in twenty-six states. On April 30, 1940 the Crippled Children's School in Fargo became part of LHHS and moved to Jamestown the next year. In 1961, after its offices had been located in various Fargo facilities, the society purchased the former Fargo Chamber of Commerce building in downtown Fargo. They remained here until they built a new headquarters in 1977; the first time all home office employees were under one roof.
In 1968 Harry Malm became President upon the retirement of Mr. Knautz. He had worked twenty years for the society prior to assuming the office of president. After his resignation in 1979, Robert A. Anderson was elected president and in 1984 Michael O. Bice was named president and CEO. On October 1, 1984 Lutheran Health Systems (LHS) was created as the new parent organization, giving flexibility to the society's operation. In 1988 Steven R. Orr assumed leadership of LHS as president and CEO. With the continued expansion of Lutheran Health Systems they broke ground for a new corporate headquarters in Fargo in May 1993 that was constructed in the West Acres Office Park.
Talks began with Samaritan Health System of Arizona that resulted in a merger on September 1, 1999 of Lutheran Health Systems and Samaritan to form Banner Health System. Initially two headquarters were maintained with the plan to establish a new corporate headquarters in Colorado. That never materialized and in 2002 the Fargo headquarters was closed and most of the facilities owned by the new Banner Health in North Dakota were sold.
Scope and Content
The Banner Health System photograph collection provides a look into the beginnings of this Fargo-based company. The collection is part of a greater collection of the company's documents and manuscripts donated to the Institute and processed as Manuscript 274. All images were taken when the company was still being operated under the name Lutheran Hospitals and Homes Society. The photograph collection touches on a wide range of topics including company gatherings, portraiture, staff, patients, and images of various hospital facilities. The collection has been organized into four series: People, Buildings, Albums, and Slides.
The People Series contains twenty-nine photographs of nursing staff, company celebrations, babies, and portraits of Banner Health's former CEOs. CEOs included are Fred Knautz, Harry Malm, Robert Anderson, Michael Bice and Steven Orr.
The Building Series contains thirteen historical images of hospitals and nursing homes that were run by Banner Health. Locations include Fargo N.D., Jamestown N.D., Valley City N.D., Hazen N.D., Hettinger N.D., Tioga N.D., Hot Springs S.D., Eureka S.D., and Fremont Neb. The series is arranged alphabetically by city name. It also includes prints made of four original negatives of nursing home in Fargo.
The Albums Series contains two historical photo albums from the 1950s. Many of the albums' original photos have been lost or removed over the years and, on some pages, only a few remain. Both albums contain images of staff, company functions, and hospital and nursing home facilities. Many of the photographs are labeled by location while others remain unidentified. Facilities represented in the first album include in Webster, S.D., Britton, S.D., Eurkea, S.D., Canova, S.D., Hot Springs, S.D., Fargo, N.D., Valley City, N.D., Jamestown, N.D., Jordan, Forsyth, Terry and Columbus, Mont., Sterling, Colorado, and Sheldon, Iowa. Facilities represented in the second album include in Grand Island, Neb., Crystal Falls, Mich., Hot Springs, S.D., Crippled Childrens School, Jamestown, N.D., Fargo Nursing Home, Good Samaritan Home, Arthur, N.D., Sterling, Colo., and Forsyth, Mont.
The Slide Series contains 369 slides of company facilities, staff, activities, and gatherings. When donated, the slides were in no recognizable order so they have since been arranged into either alphabetically by city or topical. Many of the slides were originally labeled with the town in which the image was taken, and they make up the majority of the collection. A breakdown of the slides is included in the contents listing below.
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Photography 
