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Jo Ann Ashley 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.
Overview and metadata sections
Jo Ann Ashley (1939-1980), nurse, author, and educator, was born and raised in Kentucky. She obtained a nursing diploma from Kentucky Baptist College in 1961, a B.S. degree from Catherine Spaulding College (Louisville, KY) in 1964, and a doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York in 1972. A highly regarded teacher and sought-after speaker, Ashley achieved national recognition with the publication of her book, Hospitals, Paternalism, and the Role of the Nurse (New York: Teachers College Press, 1976). This book, published at the height of the women's movement in the 1970s, created (and still engenders) controversy with its pointed condemnation of sexism towards and exploitation of nurses by hospital administrators and physicians. Ashley remained, almost to her death, a prolific writer, public speaker, and lecturer on a variety of topics germane to nursing, but she was particularly interested in the role of nursing within the health field, power in nursing, and nursing's historical perspective. A woman of almost boundless energy, Ashley also composed nearly three hundred poems. Much of Ashley's poetry reflected her interest in social thought and ideas on woman's role in society. Cancer tragically brought an abrupt end to her exceptionally productive career.
This collection spans Ashley’s professional life, documenting both her educational and academic experiences. Also included is an extensive collection of her speeches, articles, and research files documenting her association with various institutions. Included as well are correspondence, photographs, audio-cassette tapes of Ashley’s participation in talk shows, addresses, and class discussions which reflected her interest in the role of nursing within the health field, power in nursing, and nursing’s historical perspective.
Gift of Jewell Ashley and Edith Ashley Shinbach, 1996.
People
Subject
Occupation
- 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
- The Ashley family
- Access Restrictions
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Portions of this collection (in Series 2 and Series 4) are restricted.
- 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 curriculum vitae and “Steppingstones of Life” which outlines Ashley’s activities from birth (1939) to 1976, as well as personal correspondence relating to faculty positions, cards and letters from friends and family, and letters in which Ashley expresses her thoughts and feelings about health, life, and death to a friend. Also included is a complete set of Ashley’s personal poetry.
This series is of papers accumulated in the period when Ashley studied or worked at Columbia University, New York and finally, at West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia. Included are class notes, teaching notes, masters thesis and dissertation. Some folders are restricted and closed to research.
Included in this series are the large number of addresses Ashley presented on various occasions, journal articles, and her bibliographical notes on specific subjects (spanning the years 1896-1979) relating to her major field. Also, found here is correspondence referring to the publication of Ashley’s book Hospitals, Paternalism and the Role of the Nurse, and comments to Ashley on her published articles and book.
This is a small series which includes Ashley’s projects, “Lives of Contemporary Nurses: An Oral History Project,” which is comprised of audio cassette tapes and typed transcripts of the interviews done by Ashley.
Included in this series are addresses, interviews, class discussions led by Ashley, and one audio cassette tape purchased by Ashley from the Analytic Psychology Club of Chicago.
This series includes photographs from Ashley’s childhood and teenager years, senior class pictures from her school of nursing, and a portrait for promotional purposes for her book. It also includes an Ashley family portrait.