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New Hope Public Health Nursing Association records
Notifications
Held at: New Hope Historical Society [Contact Us]45 South Main Street, P.O. Box 41, New Hope, PA, 18938
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the New Hope Historical Society. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
A small group in New Hope and Solebury (Bucks County, Pennsylvania) began raising funds for a visiting nurse in 1920. On September 19th of that year, the American Red Cross Public Health Association of New Hope was organized. At the time, it was the only public nursing agency in the community and covered an area of a four-mile radius. Services provided included: general nursing, communicable disease protection and prevention, maternity care, infant supervision, and loan of medical supplies. A nominal fee for care was waived in cases of financial hardship.
Struggling to raise necessary funds during the Great Depression, the association launched its first Open House Day in 1940. One of the association's most successful fundraisers, the annual Open House Day provided access to certain private houses and studios to the public for a fee, the proceeds of which went to the association.
In 1941, the group changed its name to the New Hope Public Health Nursing Association; it was incorporated as a non-profit organization on June 27, 1958.
Demand for the association's services declined as other nursing agencies were organized in the community, and in 1969 the New Hope Public Health Nursing Association transferred its services and funds to the Visiting Nurse Home Care Service of Doylestown Hospital.
Bibliography:
"Open House Day Story." April 1953. Document found in collection.
This collection consists of records of the New Hope Public Health Nursing Association and its predecessor the American Red Cross Public Health Association of New Hope, 1920-1969, including minutes, financial records, fundraising materials, newspaper clippings, and publications and ephemera.
The minute books in this collection form a nearly complete set, 1920-1968. There are also by-laws, reports of activities, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and other publications and ephemera. The fundraising materials include copies of appeal letters, as well as programs and other materials relating to Open House Day, 1940-1969. The financial records include ledgers, 1934-1969; tax records, 1953-69; and financial statements and treasurer's reports, 1931-1969. There are also some scholarship-related materials in the collection, 1946-1960.
Dr. Arthur J. Ricker
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2012-2014 as part of a project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.
In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact New Hope Historical Society directly for more information.
Organization
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- New Hope Historical Society
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Faith Charlton through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories
- Sponsor
- This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
- Access Restrictions
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Contact New Hope Historical Society for information about accessing this collection.