Object 91: Hines Scrapbook Dedication

On March 1, 1933, the head of the Veterans Administration, Brig. Gen. Frank T. Hines, received a unique gift from his associates and staff. They presented him with a handmade scrapbook to commemorate the tenth anniversary of his appointment as director of VA’s predecessor agency, the Veterans Bureau. Addressing Hines as “Friend, Mentor, Leader” on the dedication page, his colleagues commended him for his “integrity and matchless Leadership during a decade of honorable, faithful Service to his Country and its disabled Veterans.”  

Hines assumed charge of the Veterans Bureau at a difficult time for the young agency, which had been established in 1921 to oversee all benefit programs for World War I Veterans. Its first director, Charles R. Forbes, resigned after 18 months, beset by allegations of mismanagement and corruption. Hines, who served with distinction in both the Spanish-American War and World War I, was brought in to restore order. In a letter to a senator, President Warren G. Harding noted that the position required “eminent ability, unfailing patience and endless tact.” Harding went on to express his belief that Hines “who has an exceptional record as an organizer and administrator” possessed the requisite qualities to succeed as director.  

Hines vindicated Harding’s confidence in his abilities. He proved so effective at his job that he stayed on through three successive changes in presidential administrations. He also skillfully handled the tremendous logistical and managerial challenges that came with the consolidation of all Veterans programs within the federal government into a single agency, the Veterans Administration, in 1930.

Many hands contributed to the making of the scrapbook. The lining was made of buckskin from a deer shot in the Ouray Mountains of Utah, Hines’s home state, by the manager of the Salt Lake City regional office. A division chief in the Washington, D.C. central office wrote the testimonial on the dedication page and a draftsman in the Construction Division did the ornate lettering. Mounted on the pages within were over 200 photographs featuring images of every hospital in the VA system alongside individual pictures of their medical staffs. The collection also included posed shots of essential personnel from the regional offices and various divisions within the central office. As a finishing touch, the group photos were all signed by the individuals who appeared in them. A few even added a handwritten or typed message of thanks to Hines below their signatures.

Originally intended as a personal memento for Hines, the scrapbook also has value as a historical artifact, showing the growth of VA’s 2nd generation hospital system. By 1933, VA had replaced or renovated most of the older hospital facilities it had inherited from the U.S. Army and U.S. Public Health Service after World War I. The scrapbook contains photos of 71 hospitals; just over half depict new facilities added to VA’s inventory in the ten years since Hines’s initial appointment. And while the onset of the Great Depression led to the contraction of some Veterans benefits, VA’s medical services continued to expand. Eight photos were of hospitals built within the past 12 months.

The volume also offers a snapshot of VA’s workforce. The names and the faces of the persons posing stiffly before the camera have largely receded into history, but the photos still tell a story. The individuals pictured are predominantly male, save for the women dressed in white on the hospital staffs who served as nurses or medical aides. There is also a group portrait of nine women from the central office that carries the cheeky caption “The Real Workers.”

The faces are exclusively white with one exception: the African American doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel standing on the steps of the VA hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama. The opening of the hospital in 1923 to provide medical care to Black Veterans triggered protests and threats of violence, especially when it became known that Hines had agreed to staff the facility with African American physicians and attendants. Hines was not deterred by the backlash. He carried through with his plan to ensure the hospital was operated by a full complement of Black medical professionals, led by hospital director Dr. Joseph H. Warren, who stands front and center in the 1933 photo.  

The scrapbook marked a major milestone in Hines’s career at VA. Yet, as it turned out, his career still had a long ways to go. He remained in his position for another 12 years, establishing a record for continuous service that no subsequent VA leader has come close to equaling. His long honeymoon at VA finally came to an end during WWII. He resigned in 1945 amid mounting criticism over the shortcomings in VA medical care during the war and its slow processing of disability claims. His successor was also a military man, albeit one who was still on active duty: Gen. Omar N. Bradley.

Hines retained the scrapbook for a few years after leaving VA. On August 4, 1949, he donated it to the VA hospital in Salt Lake City with a note saying it was his “sincere desire that this beautiful testimonial” should reside in his place of birth. The volume remained there for another 60 years until a public affairs officer transferred it to VA historian Darlene Richardson for safekeeping in 2009. She arranged for the National Archives and Records Administration to take possession of the scrapbook in 2017. It has since been digitized and is now accessible in its entirety through the National Archives online catalog.