{"id":14941,"date":"2024-05-07T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-07T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=14941"},"modified":"2024-05-06T13:52:29","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T17:52:29","slug":"mrs-colgate-saves-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2024\/05\/07\/mrs-colgate-saves-the-day\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Mrs. Colgate&#8217; Saves the Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"767\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/04\/Hope-Hubbell-Conklin-final.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14942\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.7989583333333333;width:397px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/04\/Hope-Hubbell-Conklin-final.jpg 767w, https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/04\/Hope-Hubbell-Conklin-final-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 100vw, 767px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><br>Illustration by Lauren Crow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Special Collections and University Archives, there is sparse information about James C. Colgate\u2019s wife, Hope Hubbell Conkling. But a collection of letters indicates that she played an instrumental role in helping to start the University\u2019s first infirmary \u2014 at a critical time. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The building project was first discussed in 1911 at a Board of Trustees meeting, according to Special Collections Librarian Xena Becker. After the board decided to purchase the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house as a location for the project, the building was reconstructed over the next two years. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cConkling provided funding to renovate the purchased fraternity house into a functioning infirmary, per two letters from President [Elmer Burritt] Bryan [to James C. Colgate] from late 1911 and early 1912,\u201d Becker says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By 1913, Colgate\u2019s first infirmary was fully equipped. So by the time the Spanish flu hit campus in October 1918, it was designated as an established medical facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bryan wrote to James C. Colgate in the fall of 1918 to express his gratitude to Conkling: \u201cI wish that you would say to Mrs. Colgate that the infirmary saved the day. We were able to take the best of care of our sick boys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the same letter, Bryan reported that the Spanish flu infected 70 students, with one death in the community. Altogether, there was a variety of pandemic-associated disturbances that year \u2014 Colgate opened late and the football season was canceled. Nevertheless, the infirmary was there to help restore some normalcy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe [Conkling] was clearly essential to the infirmary becoming and remaining an operational unit on campus through at least 1919,\u201d offers Becker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>James C. Colgate\u2019s wife, Hope Hubbell Conkling, played a key role in establishing the University&#8217;s first infirmary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1619],"tags":[427,165,2281,703,2284,2282,2283],"coauthors":[1451],"class_list":["post-14941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-salmagundi","tag-colgate","tag-history","tag-hope-hubbell-conkling","tag-pandemic","tag-spanish-flu","tag-special-archives","tag-university-archives"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-3SZ","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14941"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15151,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14941\/revisions\/15151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14941"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=14941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}