Storyline · 1935–1951
The Hospital Saving Association of North Carolina, known as the Chapel Hill Blue Cross plan, grew out of a 1933-1934 study of hospital care for people of small means. Incorporated in March 1935 with Dr. Isaac H. Manning, the longtime medical dean, as president, it set up headquarters in the South Building and began enrolling members in 1936. By 1938 membership was near 60,000. That April it was among the first hospital insurance plans approved under the American Hospital Association's new standards, and the only approved plan in the state. In 1951 it moved to large new quarters on West Franklin Street, and by the late 1960s it had become Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
After a 1933-1934 study of hospital care for people of small means, the Hospital Saving Association of North Carolina, known as the Chapel Hill Blue Cross plan, was incorporated in March 1935, with Dr. Isaac H. Manning, the longtime medical dean, as its president from the start. By September 1935 it had its headquarters in the South Building in Chapel Hill, with Felix A. Grisette as executive manager, and it began enrolling members in 1936. By April 1, 1938, with membership near 60,000 and a staff of 20, it had bought the northwest corner of Rosemary Lane and Henderson Street from the Orange County Building and Loan Association. It planned a Colonial-style brick building there, about $30,000 for lot and building together, to replace crowded rooms in the John McCauley building. That April the association was among the first hospital insurance plans approved under the American Hospital Association's new standards, and the only approved plan in the state. In August 1951 it left its two-bay store on East Franklin Street for large new quarters on West Franklin, where it held a public open house on Saturday, August 11. By the late 1960s it had become Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
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People with a page of their own whom the dated events above name, those named most often first.
No indexed work is about this storyline itself yet. These are about the sites and people its dated events name, those named most often first, so they may discuss the storyline only in part. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.
Account ledger of Patterson's General Store in Chapel Hill for 1910 to 1911, recording what customers owed. Accounts run from townspeople and the university Athletic Association to figures such as Kemp Plummer Battle, Edward Kidder Graham, Collier Cobb, Horace Williams and Louis Round Wilson, and firms including the Bank of Chapel Hill, Odell Hardware, Standard Oil and the Southern Railway. Part of North Carolina Memory.
Edward C. Halperin's article on the quota that limited Jewish students at the medical school of the University of North Carolina, and on the parts Frank Porter Graham and Isaac Hall Manning played in it, a chapter in the history of discrimination in medical education in the state. Published in 1990, pages 385 to 410, with illustrations and portraits.
Collier Cobb (1862-1934) taught at the University of North Carolina and made photographs there from the 1890s into the 1920s. Approximately 500 items in seven linear feet, P0013 in the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives at UNC. Subjects include campus buildings, the Old Well, alumni, employees, and faculty, with portraits including Wilson Caldwell, Harry Woodburn Chase, R. D. W. Connor, and Frederick H. Koch.
History of the Department of Medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, compiled by William W. McLendon and published by the department in 2012. After a section of historical perspective, the book covers the deans, founding faculty and department chairs, then the subspecialty divisions, offshoot departments, teaching and research, with appendices. Much of it is biographical, profiling the physicians who built clinical medicine in Chapel Hill. 478 pages with illustrations.
Alice Noble's history of the School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1961. It runs 237 pages with illustrations and portraits.
Mary Jane Kagarise's history of the Department of Surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill across its first four decades, 1952 to 1993, with biographies of the surgeons on its faculty. Published by the department in 1997 in a first edition of 461 pages with illustrations, some in color. Topics include surgery and medical colleges in Chapel Hill and biography of the department's faculty.
Reviewed in The American Journal of Surgery (1998).
Robert Korstad's history of the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina over its first fifty years, 1939 to 1989, published by the university in 1990. It runs 192 pages with illustrations.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Two volumes collecting the Norma Berryhill Lectures, an annual address at the UNC School of Medicine named for the wife of its long-serving dean, W. Reece Berryhill. Volume one gathers the lectures from 1985 to 1999, edited by Floyd W. Denny, Jr., William B. Blythe and William W. McLendon; volume two, edited by McLendon and Elizabeth B. Dreesen, continues through 2008. Published by the Medical Foundation of North Carolina, with illustrations and portraits.
Departmental history of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill covering its first fifty years, published by the department in 2000. The history covers medical schools, medical education and the teaching of obstetrics in North Carolina. First edition, xvii and 366 pages with illustrations and portraits.
Annie Sutton Cameron compiled this account of Orange County's part in the First World War in 1919 as historian for the county's Council of Defense, at the request of its chairman J.S. Webb. It covers the Council and the Home Guard, drives for war bonds and overseas relief, Red Cross work, patriotic observances, the influenza epidemic and women's war work, with registers of the county's soldiers. Published online in 2002 by the UNC library in Documenting the American South's North Carolinians and the Great War.
Summary of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's twelve-volume institutional self-study, edited by C. Hugh Holman and dated January 15, 1974, issued in 1975. Topics include the university's accreditation, history and statistics, including the School of Public Health. ix and 546 pages with charts, some folded.
William Fred Mayes traces the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and its response to a changing society, with emphasis on the 1960s. The title page describes the account as selective and interpretive rather than complete. Published by the school in 1975, 68 pages with illustrations. Topics include schools of public health in Chapel Hill and their history.
Selections from the essays and addresses of William de Berniere MacNider, pharmacologist and physician at the University of North Carolina, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1953, two years after his death. Includes a portrait and a list of his publications.
An illustrated online timeline of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, issued by the school in 2025. One page with portraits.
Lynn Roundtree covers the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between 1957 and 1972 through its three chancellors, William Brantley Aycock, Paul F. Sharp and J. Carlyle Sitterson, set against the student movements of those years. Part of the Coates university leadership series, published by the author in 2024 and running to 926 pages. It is twentieth century campus history.
Each dated event above names its source, the place to start. For finding more on an event across newspapers, records and histories, see the research guide Follow an event across several accounts. Ask at the North Carolina Room of the Orange County Public Library for help with local sources.
Friends of the Orange County Public Library. “The Hospital Saving Association, 1935–1951.” Orange County Indexed, https://focplnc.org/orange-county-books/storylines/hospital-saving-association-storyline-1935/. Accessed October 22, 2026.
