Little General Yearbook

The Spartanburg General Hospital opened its doors on August 29, 1921. During the hospital’s early years it was committed to establishing key services, including educating nurses.  To this end, the Spartanburg General Hospital School for Nurses, later called the Spartanburg General Hospital School of Nursing, was established and graduated its first class of nurses in 1922.  These graduates were essential, assisting not only with patient care but a myriad of other tasks in the hospital.

From 1943 to 1946, the Spartanburg General Hospital School of Nursing was affiliated with the United States Cadet Nurse Corps. Nurses in training could transfer to an Army, Navy or Veterans’ hospital during their last six months of training.  Also during the 1940’s, the school added a new library and laboratories.

The Spartanburg General Hospital School of Nursing continued to educate nursing students until it closed in 1967. Due to its imminent closing, there was expected to be a shortage of nurses for Spartanburg County and the surrounding region. In February 1967, hospital officials entered into an agreement with the University of South Carolina trustees to establish the University of South Carolina at Spartanburg, now USC Upstate, where nurses would be trained as part of a university program.  The Spartanburg General Hospital School of Nursing graduated its final class of nurses in 1969.

The Spartanburg General Hospital School of Nursing had a student-generated yearbook called The Little General. The first volume was produced in 1947, just after the conclusion of World War II, with the final volume produced in 1969 for the final graduating class of nurses.  The Little General yearbook chronicled all of the nursing students and the hospital’s growth throughout each year.

The bulk of the digitized Little General yearbook collection can be viewed in Spartanburg County Public Library’s Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System Collection.  USC Upstate presents this digitized 1953 volume of the Little General, which is missing from the public library’s collection.