Collection (ca. 1981) of research materials compiled for a publication on Dr. Charles O'Hagan Laughinghouse and the history of Pitt Community Hospital, ca. 1870-1981, including correspondence, notes, and photographic prints and negatives.
Maury York has worked as a librarian and researcher in North Carolina since 1978. Specifically, he has held positions at the North Carolina Division of Archives and History, Edgecombe County Memorial Library and most recently, J.Y. Joyner Library at East Carolina University (ECU). York has received several awards including, Distinguished Alumni Award, School of Information and Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2007; as well as Centennial Award for Excellence (Leadership) from East Carolina University in 2009. He has also published numerous articles and a book entitled The Privilege to Paint: The Lives of Francis Speight and Sarah Blakeslee (Greenville, N.C.: Greenville Museum of Art, 2002). Maury York is currently Assistant Director for Special Collections and Head, Special Collections Department at Joyner Library at ECU.
Charles O'Hagan Laughinghouse (1871-1930), son of Joseph John and Eliza (O'Hagan) Laughinghouse, was born on the family farm between Grimesland and Greenville, NC. He was the grandson of Dr. Charles James O'Hagan, a prominent Greenville physician. Laughinghouse attended the University of North Carolina and completed his medical training in 1893 at the University of Pennsylvania. A member of the North Carolina State Board of Health for several years beginning in 1911, Dr. Laughinghouse gained respect throughout North Carolina for his innovative ideas to improve the health of North Carolinians. He served as president of the Medical Society of the State of North Carolina from 1916 through 1917, and as State Health Officer from 1926 until his death. Laughinghouse maintained a successful practice in Greenville from 1893, when he joined his grandfather's practice, until 1926, with the exception of 1918 and 1919. During this time he served in the United States and France as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army.
Dr. Laughinghouse and other doctors used their own funds to build Pitt Community Hospital. The hospital was demolished in 1981.
This collection of correspondence, interviews, research notes and photographic images was compiled by Maury York for a publication on Dr. Charles O'Hagan Laughinghouse and the history of Pitt Community Hospital, ca. 1870-1981. The bulk of the correspondence is between Ms. Faye Barnes and Maury York regarding interviews conducted by Ms. Barnes of past hospital employees. Research notes and publication drafts were created by Maury York. Photographic images include an unidentified mixed group of adults and children posed in front of a building, possibly a Farmville, NC schoolhouse (ca.1920's), Dr. E.T. Dickinson (undated), Dr. E.T. Dickinson and his wife on their honeymoon in California (undated), a photographic negative and print of Charles O'Hagan Laughinghouse (undated) and nine photographic prints of the demolition of Pitt Community Hospital in May 1981.
Gift of Maury York
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Processed by Amber Welch April 2005 Dale Sauter 2011
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.