LS&Co. Unzipped

Aug 23 2013

When the Worlds of History Collide

Like many of my colleagues in archives and history, being a historian is not just my job, it’s also my vocation. Which means that I not only love to research and write about the history of Levi Strauss & Co., but also about other historical topics. Sometimes, these worlds collide in delightful ways.

One of my other interests is in the history of medicine in the San Francisco Bay Area. And while investigating two local institutions, I found connections to Levi Strauss & Co.

The first is the San Francisco Polyclinic. It was founded in March of 1889 to provide medical care to those who could not afford it. It was managed by some of San Francisco’s most well-connected doctors, and funded through the efforts of a very robust collection of society women. They held events to raise money for the Polyclinic, such as concerts, lectures, and exhibitions by local artists.  In 1891 an elaborate champagne picnic was held in a fashionable area of the city called Sutro Heights. And guess who donated linen and other materials to decorate the picnic grounds? Levi Strauss & Co. The following year the company donated 5 dozen towels to the Polyclinic.

One of the doctors who practiced at the Polyclinic was Philip King Brown. In 1911 he opened the Arequipa Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Marin County, north of San Francisco. It treated women only, because he found that they were getting TB more frequently than men in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake and fire. A long stay in a sanatorium was the only thing between life and death for people with tuberculosis before antibiotics were discovered in the 1940s.

Tuberculosis was – and still is – a deadly, contagious disease. Many San Francisco companies would gather their employees together on a regular basis to hear lectures about how to prevent TB at home. In the winter of 1914 Dr. Philip Brown came to our office at 98 Battery Street to give a lunchtime talk about detecting the early signs of TB, and the importance of getting care. This brings to mind the company’s leadership in the fight against AIDS and HIV in the 1980s.

Throughout the 1920s, Jacob and Sigmund Stern, Levi’s nephews and both presidents of LS&CO., regularly donated to the Endowment Fund at the Arequipa Sanatorium. Jacob Stern’s wife Rosa donated to the Patients’ Fund, which helped many women pay for their treatment there.

Levi Strauss & Co. and the family who owned it supported the efforts of the Polyclinic and Arequipa for many years. In doing so, they supported the health of someone very important to me: my grandmother, Lois Downey. She entered the Arequipa Sanatorium in November of 1927, after being told she had three months to live. After a stay of sixteen months, she was discharged as cured. She died in 2006, at the age of 102.

This is one of the many reasons I love history, and continue to love learning more about the history of Levi Strauss & Co. You never know when the threads of one life will come together with another. 

Lynn's grandmother, Lois Downey, is pictured above.

Posted By: Lynn Downey, Historian, Levi Strauss & Co.
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