General Content
Marion Bradley Baker left a legacy to Rochester General Hospital far greater than the value of money. During her forty-eight years of dedicated service to the hospital, she took a group of loosely knit volunteers and forged them into an organization that gained national notoriety for their hospital work. The Volunteer Aide Service, or "Rochester Plan" as it was called outside Rochester, became the model for many hospital volunteer organizations throughout the United States. Marion Baker was born in 1877, the daughter of Charles S. Bradley, an associate of Thomas A. Edison. She was a talented artist, as illustrated by her surviving artwork and collection of dioramas depicting hospital departments.
Her interests were varied and included many social work agencies. Realizing the importance of preserving Rochester General's rich history, she began collecting material for an archives in the early 1940s. With a group of Exhibit Volunteers, she set up exhibits on Hospital Departments and history to educate both staff and public. She fought to preserve this material through the change-over from Westside in the mid-1960s. The Baker-Cederberg Museum and Archives is named in her honor. Married to William J. Baker, who pre-deceased her, Mrs. Baker died June 14, 1968, at the age of ninety-one.