Alexandria Hospital: Women Mobilize the Community
This 2023-24 exhibition marked the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Alexandria Infirmary -- today's Inova Alexandria Hospital. Women established and sustained the hospital by fostering community support, making it one of Alexandria’s most community-based enterprises.
Healthcare in Alexandria took a big step forward when a group of Alexandria women led by Julia Johns met to organize the Infirmary in December 1872. Through their efforts, townspeople were no longer required to go to Richmond or Washington, D.C. to receive hospital care.
Alexandria, VA, December 12th, 1872
At a meeting of ladies called by Miss Julia Johns to meet in the lecture room of St. Paul’s P.E. Church in this City, with a view to the formation of a Society, to establish and control a Hospital for the sick among the respectable laboring classes. There were present, the following named persons:
Miss Julia Johns Mrs. John Stuart Miss Lucy Dorsey Mrs. G.Y. Worthington Miss M.V. Smith Mrs. D.F. Sprigg Rev. Dr. Norton George R. Hill -- Minutes Book, Alexandria Infirmary
Julia Johns’ group became the Board of Managers, also called the Board of Lady Managers. From the institution’s beginning and throughout its history to the present, women have played a key role in the hospital’s administration, patient care, and support.
Learn More
Oral Histories with TWIG and the Board of Lady Managers
Alexandria Legacies, the Alexandria Oral History Program, was developed through the City of Alexandria’s Office of Historic Alexandria in the early 1980s. Today, staff and volunteers are actively conducting interviews and preparing transcriptions. Oral history broadens the study of the past in areas where there are no written documents or physical artifacts.
TWIG, The Junior Auxiliary of Inova Alexandria Hospital
- Former TWIG Presidents:
Jocie Kazanjian (1990-91)
Helenmarie Shipp (1991-92)
Mary Kasik (1992-93) - Candace Beane
- Julia Brasfield
- Reba Burns
- Anita Carson
- Marilyn Harris
- Kathy Hirsch
- Margaret Johnson
- Julie Robben Lineberry
- Linda Lovell
- Sameera "Seema" Nawaz
- Jane Ring
- Starlet Zarek
Board of Lady Managers
Alexandria Hospital in "Out of the Attic"
“Out of the Attic” is published each week in the Alexandria Times newspaper. These articles appear with the permission of the Alexandria Times and were authored by staff of the Office of Historic Alexandria and invited guests.
- Old Alexandria Hospital. March 12, 2009.
- A long history of healthcare firsts. October 24, 2019.
- Women fundraise for healthcare. March 17, 2022.
- 'Alexandria Hospital: Women Mobilize the Community'. April 14, 2022.
- Julia Johns and the Alexandria Infirmary. March 7, 2024.
Acknowledgements
Donors
Lead Partner
Inova Health System
Benefactor
The Twig
Providers ($500-$1000)
Robyn M. Nichols
Janet Hawkins & David Wormser
Gretchen & David Bulova
Amy Jackson
Caregivers ($150-$300)
Kathy & Larry Hirsch
Michael and Ann Hobbs
Amy Bertsch
Jeanne Defliese
Michelle Walter
MaryAnne Beatty and Tom Coello
Del Pepper
Karen Ulfers
Peter Pennington & Mary Frances Jetton
Carol Chiasson
Colleen Dougherty
Tom & Emily Soapes
Supporters ($100)
Emily Baker
Christina Brennan
Al Cox
Peggy Harlow
Abby Horrell
Jennifer Kilmer
Gregory & Kristin Lloyd
Linda Lovell
Richard Merritt
Krystyn Moon
Richard Owens
Ted Pulliam
Charles and Janet Reimer
Sharon Rennert
Laura Selene Rockefeller
Gail C Rothrock
Mary Schoen
Moira Skinner
Danny & Nancy Smith
Amy Vander Vliet
Patricia Washington
Patricia White
Esther White
Ivy Whitlatch
Liz & Geoff Williams
Matt & Susan Williams
Donald Williams
Justin Wilson
Leslie Ziegler
Spring2Action donors
Acknowledgements
Alexandria Black History Museum
Alexandria Library, Local History/Special Collections
Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary
The Board of Lady Managers
Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia Health System
Inova Alexandria Hospital
Inova Health Foundation
The Twig
Candace Beane
MaryAnne Beatty
Emily Chuma
Tom Collelo
Jennifer Drake
Alexandra Edwards
Barbie Beggs Poole Frank
Derrick Greene
Greer Christensen-Gibbons
Janet Hawkins
Elizabeth Hickey
Sara Higgins
Kathy Hirsch
Shannon Hiskey
Colleen Hughes
Rebecca Jackson
Jennifer McGihon Johnson
Linda Lovell
Juná Mackey-Padilla and the Mackey family
Lori Powell
Cynthia Puskar
Melissa Riddy
James Rubino
Mary Ryan
Mary Schoen
Jennie Trapasso
Charlotte Tsoucalas
Historic Alexandria Staff
Gretchen Bulova
Deborah Coblenz
Susan Cumbey
Audrey Davis
Francesco De Salvatore
Terilee Edwards-Hewitt
Melanie Gonzalez
James Holloway
Jennifer Lane
Daniel Lee, Ph.D.
Kristin Lloyd
Liz Williams
Diane Zazzera
Installation
Costume & Textile Specialists
Explus Inc.
Liberty Language Services
Alexandria Hospital: Women Mobilize the Community
This exhibition marked the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Alexandria Infirmary -- today's Inova Alexandria Hospital. Women established and sustained the hospital by fostering community support, making it one of Alexandria’s most community-based enterprises.
The exhibition was held at Alexandria History Museum at The Lyceum in 2023-2024.