The Reception Room

As you enter the Administration Building's front door and look down the expansive hallway, the entrance to the museum is immediately on your right. Just inside the door is an early 1900's roll-top desk which was used by the Superintendent's Administrative Assistant, probably a woman. Many of the boxes and containers on the desk are also from the early 1900's. The typewriter, however, dates from the late 1930's or early 1940's. Note that the entrance door to the room has two sections; the top half would have been kept open, allowing the Administrative Assistant to see all who entered the building and to determine what business they had at the hospital. No one was allowed entrance without first being screened here by the Administrative Assistant. The Superintendent had the final word as to who would be seen at the hospital. The switch board in this room was originally used at Cushing Hospital in Framingham when it was a Veterans' Hospital. The Cushing like many other state public health facilities, has since closed. Another duty of those who worked here with the Administrative Assistant was to handle personnel matters. The back half of this room is devoted to historical public health figures in Massachusetts. The long display case against the wall once held the bones used to teach anatomy to medical and nursing students. Also located in this room are three large murals depicting significant events in the history of medicine-the first organ transplant at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Children's Hospital and the Family Doctor visiting a local school. They were donated in 2000 by the Harvard Pilgrim HMO.