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Ruth Marilyn Blitzstein Deglin collection

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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

Call Number:
MC 211
Repository:
University of Pennsylvania: Barbara Bates Center for the Study of The History of Nursing
Extent:
1.42 linear feet
Language:
English
Preferred Citation:
Ruth Marilyn Blitzstein Deglin collection, Barbara Bates Center for The Study of The History of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania
Date:
1945-1975 (inclusive)
Donor:
Deglin, Dana
Form:
Personal papers
Abstract:
Ruth Marilyn Blitzstein Deglin was a Philadelphia-area nurse during the 20th century. She attended Jewish Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1945. This collection contains Deglin’s artifacts and photographs from her time at Jewish Hospital.

Ruth Marilyn Deglin, nee Blitzstein, was born on January 10, 1924 and grew up in South Jersey in the town of Salem. In the early 1940s, she entered nursing school at Jewish Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (presently Albert Einstein Medical Center). During her surgical nurse training, which coincided with World War II, she worked at the Naval Hospital in Jamaica, Long Island, New York. She graduated in 1945. After her marriage in 1948, Deglin continued to nurse at many Philadelphia area hospitals and corporations. She also worked as a private duty nurse. While on-staff at Jeanes Hospital in 1968, Ruth got cancer of the thyroid. After treatment, she recovered and continued to work as a nurse until the mid-1970s, when she returned to college and received a Bachelor of Art degree from Temple University. Due to health issues at that time, she did not return to nursing. Deglin moved to California in 2001, residing near her two oldest children until her passing on February 26, 2008.

This collection contains Deglin’s nursing cape, as well as other nursing-related artifacts from her career. It also includes photographs of Deglin and her class at Jewish Hospital during WWII. These items are accompanied by biographical information prepared by Ruth Deglin’s daughter, Dana Deglin.

Gift of Dana Deglin, 2010.

See also: MC 88, Albert Einstein Medical Center School of Nursing records; MC 127A, Alumni Association of the Albert Einstein Medical Center School of Nursing records.

People
Organization
Subject
Occupation

Publisher
University of Pennsylvania: Barbara Bates Center for the Study of The History of Nursing
Finding Aid Author
Finding aid prepared by Bethany Myers
Access Restrictions

This collection is unrestricted.

Use Restrictions

Copyright restrictions may apply. Please contact the Center with requests for copying and for authorization to publish, quote or reproduce the material.

Collection Inventory

Ruth Deglin’s brief biography and resume, 2010.
Jewish Hospital Association of Philadelphia diploma awarded to Ruth Marilyn Blitzstein, upon completion of the established course of instruction and practice in the School of Nursing, May 13, 1945.
St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, Certificate of Attendance, Continuing Education Program “The Diabetic Child”, October 29, 1975.
Photograph: Ruth M. Blitzstein, individual portrait, in nursing uniform, circa 1945.
Photograph: Nursing school class picture, Jewish Hospital, Philadelphia, 1945.
Photograph: Ruth M. Blitzstein and classmate at the entrance to the Fridenberg Memorial Surgical Building, Jewish Hospital, circa 1945.
Photograph: Ruth Deglin depicted as a hospital nursing“patient” in photograph for a hospital volunteer program. Nurse shown in photograph is wearing an “American Red Cross Volunteer” arm band., 1950s-1960s?.
Cape.
Jewelry box containing: Nursing Pin, inscribed “American Legion Auxiliary” and “RMB”; Medical Seal Pin, caduceus; Name Tag, inscribed “Mrs. Deglin”, white plastic, 1948 – 1950s?.

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