Welcome to the Meriter Archives Online Database!
The Meriter Archives of UnityPoint Health-Meriter (Madison, Wisconsin) is a repository for the documents, printed material, photographs, artifacts, and memorabilia from Meriter and the institutions that proceeded it.
Meriter has a complex history, and its archives are similarly complex. The institution traces its roots back to two separate hospitals: Madison General Hospital, incorporated in 1898, and Methodist Hospital, incorporated in 1919. Both hospitals also ran nursing schools for much of the twentieth century. These institutions’ parent companies merged in 1987 to become Meriter Health Services, which officially partnered with UnityPoint Health to become UnityPoint Health-Meriter in 2014. Each of these entities is represented in the archives, along with several affiliated clinics.
A large portion of the archival holdings are administrative records that document day-to-day events and long-term strategic planning at Madison General, Methodist, Meriter, and related organizations. The archives also contain historic photographs, patient ledgers and records, scrapbooks, uniforms, awards, dedication plaques, medical equipment, and other objects. Taken together, the archives paint a vivid picture of medical and nursing history in Madison over the past 120 years.
This database is a work in progress and is constantly growing. While full cataloguing is in process, please contact the Archives if there is material from the archive that you wish to view.
The Meriter Archives have been catalogued thanks to a generous donation from an anonymous alumna of the Madison General Hospital School of Nursing.
Searching the Collection
Random Images
Not sure where to start? The Random Images button allows you to browse the collection. Each Random Images page displays a random assortment of images from the records online. If something piques your interest, click the thumbnail to view a larger version of the image.
Keyword Search
The Keyword Search button allows you to perform a general search across multiple fields. Keyword searches use OR as the default connector between words (e.g. a search for Methodist Hospital will return records associated with Methodist OR Hospital). If you want to find records where both keywords are found, type in AND between the two words. To search for a specific phrase, be sure to put the phrase within quotes (e.g. "School of Nursing"). You can also use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard (e.g. a search for medic* would come up with records containing medicine, medical, medicinal, etc.). Searches are not case sensitive.
Advanced Search
Digging for something even more specific? Using the Advanced Search button, you can search for a word or phrase within a particular search category or use multiple categories to further narrow down your search results. Phrase searching with quotes and use of wildcards (*) are available in Advanced Search.