Heritage Snapshot 225: Early Marketing of Loma Linda

LOMA LINDA>> In 1911, the constituency of the Loma Linda College of Medical Evangelists (CME — the first name of the Loma Linda University School of Medicine) supported aggressive marketing efforts. In fact, advertising was so important that even though they adjourned the August 15, 1911, annual meeting for lack of a quorum, the chair called an informal meeting to consider the appointment of a publicity committee. The Committee on Plans recommended that administration inaugurate a well-planned and continuous publicity campaign, including the publication and judicious distribution of tracts and pamphlets, the sending out of lecturers, and frequent correspondence with educational leaders. They based the resolution on the perception that the rapid and encouraging development of CME was a promise of continued success. They believed that the institution’s value to the Seventh-day Adventist denomination and to the world corresponded with the understanding and appreciation of its work by church members around the world. In July 1912, the Board authorized the hiring of an advertising firm to place advertisements in 400,000 handbooks, including 50,000 to eight leading hotels of Southern California. The company reduced the price from $600 per year to $350 as an inducement for the trial year. On November 9, 1912, CME advertised its services in Sunset Magazine, the Ames Brother’s Advertising Guide, and Life and Health magazine. The Loma Linda Sanitarium also advertised in CME’s news publication, The Medical Evangelist. These ads often touted Loma Linda’s proximity to “the beautiful Redlands district, with its acres of orange groves, its beautiful drives and parks, (and) its balmy sunny days.” Many of these ads were accompanied by pictures of the famous arrowhead on the mountain across the San Bernardino Valley. Advertisements often reminded readers of the worldwide fame of Southern California as a health resort. The Medical Evangelist for the second quarter of 1910 included a photo taken from Colton Avenue (now Redlands Boulevard) and touted the Loma Linda setting that would make any chamber of commerce proud: “The clear blue skies of Southern California, the beauty and fragrance of the trees and flowers and the splendid panorama of the famous San Bernardino Valley which spreads out before the visitor’s gaze, combine to make Loma Linda one of the most beautiful places in the world. At the crest of the commanding elevation, the Loma Linda Sanitarium overlooks this whole delightful scene — the fertile, fruitful valley at its feet, the tops of sun-kissed, snow-capped mountains shimmering in the distance. “The Loma Linda Sanitarium offers its guests every comfort and convenience. The equipment is complete, and the medical attention is all that could be desired. It is located on the main line of the Southern Pacific sixty-two miles east of Los Angeles. “Send for our Free Descriptive Booklet, giving views, rates, etc.” In November 1912, a joint meeting of representatives of the Boards of the three Southern California sanitariums (Paradise Valley, Glendale and Loma Linda) met in the Glendale office of Dr. Daniel D. Comstock to discuss “matters of common interest,” including joint advertising. Mr. Volney H. Lucas, Loma Linda's advertising manager, reported the advertising methods employed by Loma Linda, mediums thought to produce the best results, best places for distribution, and cost. He proposed placing joint contracts for advertising in magazines and journals. Lucas then suggested the group should appoint a joint publicity committee consisting of the business managers and medical superintendents of the three institutions, plus an advertising manager who would be called the “General Publicity Man.” (Earlier, one of the farm employee’s title was “The Barn Man.”) The committee agreed that Loma Linda would coordinate the joint effort and all three institutions would share expenses equally. The committee agreed that the expenses for each institution would not exceed $1,000 a year. Lucas became the chair of the Publicity Committee for the three institutions. Percy T. Magan, M.D., became Loma Linda's next significant fundraiser. A charismatic Irishman from Madison, Tennessee, Magan joined the CME faculty on November 25, 1915, with the understanding that he would help Newton G. Evans, M.D., the School of Medicine's new dean, build a new hospital in Los Angeles to help raise CME's rating with the American Medical Association. (Evans Hall and Magan Hall are named after these gentlemen.) Loma Linda owes a debt of gratitude to the Madison Sanitarium. From that institution it recruited Evans and Magan, and through them, sizable contributions. Magan knew how to meet people in high places and also how to ask philanthropic-minded people for financial support. He complimented Evans' insistence on CME's school of medicine being built on a solid scientific foundation. Magan immediately asked Ed Sutherland, M.D., his former colleague at the Madison Sanitarium, to help him raise funds for Loma Linda. Sutherland contacted Mrs. Lida Funk Scott, an heiress to the Funk and Wagnall’s publishing empire and one of Madison's major benefactors, and asked her for permission to divert her donations to CME. She approved based on Sutherland's rationale that Madison needed more physicians and that it would benefit from those who would graduate from Loma Linda. Thanks to Dr. Magan's contacts, one of Mrs. Scott's donations purchased the original property for the Ellen G. White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles. As Magan maintained his relationship with Mrs. Scott over the years, she continued her generous financial support.