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Theresa I. Lynch papers
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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Barbara Bates Center for the Study of The History of Nursing [Contact Us]Claire Fagin Hall, 418 Curie Boulevard, Floor 2U, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-4217
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Barbara Bates Center for the Study of The History of Nursing. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
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Theresa I. Lynch (1896-1994), R.N., Ed.D was an educator, administrator, practitioner, and author whose foresight, determination, and confidence to fight the conservative establishment enabled her to become a pioneer in the development of the nursing profession.
Lynch was born in a family of five children in Winchester, Virginia, on August 9, 1896. Her father was a lawyer and her mother a "great social and civic leader.” With objections from her parents, who believed that nursing was inappropriate for "a lady,” Lynch chose nursing as her career and earned a diploma in nursing from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania training school in 1920. Her experience in nursing combined with an earlier degree in education enabled Lynch to become director of nursing at the Willard Parker Hospital of Communicable Diseases in New York. Lynch later left Willard to become director of an innovative new program at New York University which focused on the teaching of nursing theory. After six years at NYU, Lynch was recruited by her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, to direct its nursing program. In this capacity, Lynch completely reorganized the nursing program.
She was instrumental in the establishment of the School of Nursing as a Division of Medical Affairs in 1944. Lynch, however, was not satisfied with the arrangement. She fought the male-dominated leadership that was opposed to an independent school of nursing. Lynch won the battle. In 1950, an independent School of Nursing was founded at the University of Pennsylvania, and Lynch was immediately named its dean.
Lynch recognized the value of publications as evidenced by her textbook, Communicable Diseases Nursing, which has been translated into different languages including Japanese. She also co-authored Poliomyelitis with Landow and Smith. The dean, who was always meticulously groomed, had a special interest in people who suffer from communicable diseases. Even in the course of preparing her textbook, she found time to travel to New York one day a week to practice at Willard Parker.
Lynch was also active in state and local branches of the American Nurses Association and the National League for Nursing. She held various titles, including one as Chair of the First Committee on Careers for the National League of Nursing, a role she handled splendidly for several years. Among her honors, she has been listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who of American Women, and received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Nurses' Alumni Association of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Lynch retired her position as Dean of the School of Nursing in 1965. Later she started a nursing school at Widener University. After her official retirement in 1972, she moved to Washington, D.C, where she stayed until she was too ill to live by herself. In 1980, she moved to Saunders House, a retirement home in suburban Philadelphia, where she remained until her death in 1994.
The Theresa Lynch papers consist of personal correspondence, speeches, awards, biographical sketches, and photographs. Information on the University of Pennsylvania's Nursing School, however, makes up the bulk of the collection. The institutional files include accounts of the early history of the nursing school, many written by Lynch herself, minutes, reports, information on the school's curriculum, correspondence, publications including course bulletins. The collection also include materials of the National League for Nursing and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.
Gift of Lillian S. Brunner.
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- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: Barbara Bates Center for the Study of The History of Nursing
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Center staff, updated by Bethany Myers
- Sponsor
- This collection was processed with funds provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission as part of the Nursing History Processing and Cataloging Project.
- Access Restrictions
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This collection is unrestricted.
- Use Restrictions
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Copyright restrictions may apply. Please contact the Center with requests for copying and for authorization to publish, quote or reproduce the material.
Collection Inventory
This series contains Lynch's personal papers such as her resume, biographical sketches, correspondence, speeches, awards, and diplomas.
This series contains Lynch's photographs from childhood to later years. It also includes pictures of Lynch's parents and photos taken with colleagues and associates.
This series contains materials of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing. It begins with a history of the School of Nursing since its inception as a training school at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 1886. The early part of the history comes from journal articles while the later part is partially typed or handwritten by Lynch herself. Another history file is an interview with Lynch on the history of the school between 1944-65. Also included in the series are an operating statement of the School for 1952-54, minutes, annual reports, curriculum, programs, correspondence, information on the School's alumni, and publications.
This series contains materials of other organizations, among them the National League for Nursing and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The League files include guidelines, questionnaires, and recommendations by the League. There are also reports both by the League and the University of Pennsylvania's Nursing School on the issue of accreditation of Penn's nursing school. Also included are the League's correspondence with Penn and a publication entitled Criteria for the Appraisal of Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs in Nursing. The College of Physicians file includes a 1974 project sponsored by the College to promote the writing of the history of nursing in Philadelphia.
This series is comprised of four artifacts: Lynch's HUP school pin class of 1920; a thermometer with silver case, Lynch's personal leather bound copy of Communicable Disease Nursing (1947), and 2nd edition of Communicable Disease Nursing (1949).