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Miscellaneous 20th Century Community Health photographs
Notifications
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
This collection consists of 85 black and white photographic prints. They were assembled and printed by Diane Hamilton circa 1985. Most of the photographs were originally taken between around 1912 to 1953. The bulk of the undated photographs probably date to the 1920s-1940s. Most of the photographs depict the activities of visiting nurses, including patient care, transportation, office buildings, equipment and supplies, public health outreach initiatives, and other related images. Many of the visiting nurses shown here worked for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Welfare Division. There is also one series depicting military medical care, primarily during the Korean War.
Though the prints date from the mid 1980s, the original dates of the photograph, when known, are listed here. Captions written on the image are given in quotation marks. Photo numbers ending in the letter a indicate a duplicate print of the preceding number.
Gift of Diane Hamilton, 2010.
People
Organization
- Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.
- Visiting Nurse Association (Cleveland, Ohio).
- Visiting Nurse Association of Chicago.
- Visiting Nurse Service (Henry Street Settlement (New York, N.Y.)).
- Visiting Nurse Service of New York.
- Visiting Nurse Society of Philadelphia.
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
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This collection is unrestricted.
- Use Restrictions
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Photographs are not original, copyright restrictions may apply. Please contact the Center with requests for copying and for authorization to publish, quote or reproduce the material.
Collection Inventory
These images are divided into subseries based on the place identified. Most of the photographs are of visiting nurses providing in-home patient care, but there are also depictions of outdoor scenes: notably building exteriors and public health demonstrations.
This series consists of portraits of individuals, with one candid group photo.
This series' images show the offices of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.'s Welfare Division, along with other office interiors of unknown organizations. There are also photographs of supplies used by visiting nurses and one image showing a public health education exhibit.
This series contains photographs of nurses and their modes of transportation at unidentified locations. Several of the photographs are duplicates of one nurse and her bicycle. Accompanying those photos is a print of a newspaper clipping about visiting nurses using automobiles.
This series consists mainly of photographic prints of pamphlet covers. These pamphlets, posters, and other ephemera were for the most part issued by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., though there are also unrelated informational materals about WWI nursing and the influenza epidemic.
This series contains photographs depicting public health initiatives at unidentified locations. Three of the images show diptheria immunization events, and the other two illustrate birth registration and a sanitation campaign.
These images are divided into two subseries: pre-Korean War and the Korean War. With one exception, they were all copied from published printed sources and are captioned. The unknown patient may not be related to military healthcare.
This series consists of two images: a photograph of hospital beds, context unknown, and a modern photograph of nurses working at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.