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Nursing History Small Collections

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

Call Number:
Small Collections
Repository:
University of Pennsylvania: Barbara Bates Center for the Study of The History of Nursing
Extent:
1.87 linear feet
Language:
English
Preferred Citation:
Nursing History Small Collections, Barbara Bates Center for The Study of The History of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania
Date:
1856-2008 (inclusive)
Creator:
Radbill, Samuel X., 1901-1987, Gruber, Mildred, 1904-1906, Witmer, Laura Strickler, 1934-1947, Freedmen's Hospital Nurses Alumni Club of Philadelphia., Nightingale, Florence, 1856-1896, Godfrey, Mary Robinson, 1910-1987, Oliner, Jane, Heffernan, Bernardine, 1968-1986, Hoff, Bertha, 1913-1914, Holman, Lydia, 1888-1960, Izcka, Jadwiga, 1939-1960, Kennedy, Cecile, 1939-1957, Jones, Elizabeth Kratz, 1899-1946, Lemley, Alice and Lillie, 1887-1888, J.B. Lippincott Company., Newman, Edna Albert, 1924-1936, Ritter, Beatrice, 1947-1957, Soper, Martha Lenora Collett, 1919-1920, Stern, Beverly Peril, 1955-1960, Todd, C. Edwina, 1947-1953, van der Peet, Roberta, Overholt, Ella Florence, York, Edith M., 1922-1923, Shapiro, Judith Newman, Currier, Hazel, Lynn, Russel R., Fondes, Tabitha Parker, 1912-1996, Renz, Dorothy L. Feifer, Zwerdling, Michael B., Bloomfield, Dorothy Reese, Vogel, Joan R., Alumni Association of the School of Nursing of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania., Osborne, Estelle M., Mahoney, Jean L., Kennedy, Marion Kern, McNeil, Marjorie E. Snider, Mason, Joan D., Ruggere, Christine, Stallknecht, Kristin, D'Antonio, Patricia, 1955, Rosenberg, Charles E., Lynaugh, Joan E., Dr., 1935-2011, Short, Peter, and Erikson, Ruth, 1932-1935
Form:
Personal papers, Lecture notes, Administrative records, Letters (correspondence), Clippings (information artifacts), Contracts, Proceedings, Manuals (instructional materials), Photographs, Oral histories, Postcards, Postage stamps, Printed ephemera, and Photograph albums
Abstract:
The Bates Center's Small Collections are various, unrelated accessions that have been individually assigned collection numbers. Many of the Small Collections consist of a single folder.

Most of the collections included here consist of personal papers, student lecture notes from various nursing schools, and assorted nursing memorabilia and ephemera. Of particular significance are the two letters written by Florence Nightingale (MC 44).

People
Organization
Subject
Place
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

Scope and Contents note

This small collection includes notes on medical history, reminiscences, the Radbill Lectures, personal notes, and notes on childcare and nursing history.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

His Life and Work, 1901-1987: An Appreciation Distributed at the Thirteenth Radbill Lecture, April 20, 1988.

Scope and Contents note

This collection consists of two notebooks containing nursing lecture notes. Gruber's training school is unknown, but may be Gowanda State Hospital.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

Lecture notes, 1904-1905.
Lecture notes, 1905.

Scope and Contents note

This small collection regards home deliveries in Somerset County, PA, with Witmer assisting Dr. I.C. Miller.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

Patient lists of home deliveries, Somerset County, PA, 1934-1945.

Scope and Contents note

This collection includes five folders of miscellaneous materials that document some of the activities of the Philadelphia club. There is also one publication of oral interviews produced by the national office.

Physical Description

0.1 Linear feet 5 folders

Philadelphia Club History, 1973.
Scope and Contents note

Copies of historical excerpts, club's purpose, list of charter members, and other activities.

History of school uniform, 1894-1973.
Photographs of presentation of Freedmen's Hospital nurses' painting to Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, 1986.
Postcard of Josephine McMillan's painting (nurse's cap, cape and lamp), 1985.
Book, "The Fifty Year Graduates of Freedmen's Hospital School of Nursing Tell Their Story, 1913-1935", October 1986.

Scope and Contents note

This collection contains two letters and one envelope unrelated to the letters. All three items contain hand and type-written notations concerning gift status and dates for which there is no documentation authentication.

Physical Description

0.02 1 folder

Envelope.
Description

The envelope is addressed by hand to the Rev. T.S. Greene at Claydon Rectory. "To enquire particularly after the Rev. Greene with Florence Nightingale’s anxious and kindest regards 1/5/82." No authentication of handwriting.

Letter from Scutari Barrack Hospital, March 3, 1856.
Description

Personal letter wishing a woman well with her pregnancy and requesting the child, if a boy, be named after her father.

Letter to Major General Thomas Mannsell, October 31, 1896.
Description

This letter concerns conditions surrounding the purchase of Embley, the family home in England.

MC 45. Godfrey, Mary Robinson, 1910-1987 . Mary Robinson Godfrey papers, 1910-1917. 02 Linear feet.
Box 1
Scope and Contents note

This small collection includes Godfrey's letter of appointment; a reprint of an article titled "Iodized Catgut: Drying, Sterilizing, and Storing"; and a reprint of a presentation at nurses convention in Cleveland, OH, 1918.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

MC 46. Oliner, Jane . Susan Francis collection, 1934-1962. 02 Linear feet.
Box 1
Scope and Contents note

This collection contains biographical information about Susan Francis, RN.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

MC 47. Heffernan, Bernardine, 1968-1986 . Bernardine Heffernan collection, 1968-1986. 02 Linear feet.
Box 1
Scope and Contents note

Heffernan was a clinical nurse specialist. This small collection includes correspondence, job specifications, reprints, workshop agenda, application for workshop, and a cassette tape.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

Scope and Contents note

This small collection consists of one notebook, labeled "Nurses Training School." Institution unknown.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

"Training School" lecture notes in notebook.

Scope and Contents note

This small collection consists of two folders of correspondence, primarily regarding her work in public health nursing in North Carolina, along with Holman's death certificate.

Physical Description

0.05 Linear feet 2 folders

Correspondence, 1898-1899; summary of her public health nursing work in North Carolina; death certificate, 1960.
Personal correspondence and letters of reference.

Scope and Contents note

This is a paper on on preparing nurses for public health work in Poland, 1939-1960.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder, 13 leaves.

Izcka, Jadwiga, 1939-1960 . Introduction of Public Health from the Earliest Days of Student Nurses Training at School (Poland).

Scope and Contents note

This small collection consists of nine newspaper clippings on the American Red Cross.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

Newspaper clippings of her American Red Cross Activities.

Scope and Contents note

These contracts document Jones' military nursing appointments with the US Army Medical Department and the Isthmian Canal Commission.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

Appointment papers for military service and Isthmian Canal Commission Nursing.

Scope and Contents note

The lecture notes are from the period of Alice Lemley's study at the Philadelphia Hospital Training School for Nurses, 1887-1888. Topics touched upon in the notes include obstetrics, nervous frustration, contagious diseases, and antiseptic use.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

Lecture notebook.

Scope and Contents note

J.B. Lippincott Company, established 1885, was a prominent publishing house in Philadelphia, PA. This collection contains some correspondence related to publication of nursing books.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

Correspondence for "Handbook on Nursing" 1875, Connecticut Training School for Nurses, New Haven, CT; and "Godey's Lady Book" article on "Lady Nurses" 1871 (photograph copy).

Scope and Contents note

This collection contains lecture notes and examinations from Newman's nursing education, which may have been at Lebanon Hospital in Lebanon, PA.

Physical Description

0.1 Linear feet 5 folders

Examinations: hygiene and sanitation, anatomy and physiology, diet cooking, pediatric nursing, communicable diseases, obstetrical and gynecological.
Lecture notes; qualification of a nurse; history of nursing; principles of nursing.
Examinations: medical, surgical, pediatric, materia medica, communicable diseases, dietetics, elementary nursing, clinical microscopy and pathology, mental and nervous diseases and public sanitation.
Examination: University of the State of New York; surgical nursing; diet cooking, obstetric and gynecologic nursing; materia medica; hygiene and sanitation; pediatric nursing including communicable diseases and orthopedics.
Lebanon Hospital, case studies and nursing demonstration procedures.

Scope and Contents note

This small collection consists of conference papers.

Physical Description

0.3 Linear feet 2 folders, 1 unfoldered item

Original transcript, June 29-30, 1987.
Scope and Contents note

This transcript contains the first day's sessions: “An Analysis of the Effects of Current Initiatives to Attract Quality Undergraduate Nursing Students: Strategies for a Brighter Future,” “Riding the Yoyo: The Work and Worth of Nursing in the 20th Century,” “The Talent Pool in Nursing: A Comparative and Longitudinal Perspective,” “Factors Associated with Cyclical Nursing Shortages A Labor Economist's Analysis of Nursing.”

Original transcript, June 30, 1987.
Scope and Contents note

This transcript contains the second day's sessions: Nursing For College Graduates Panel Discussion: What Happens If..., Strategies for Change

Folder containing conference papers.
Scope and Contents note

This folder contains the following papers: Welcome letter by Claire Fagin, "A Labor Economist's Analysis of Nursing" by Charles R. Link, nursing program statistics, "Recurring Hospital Nurse Shortages: Explanations and Solutions" by Linda H. Aiken and Connie Flynt Mullinix, "The Talent Pool in Nursing, A Comparative and Longitudinal Perspective" by Kenneth C. Green. Nurses for the Future conference: "Strategies for Change," "Nursing for College Graduates" by Donna Diers, "Riding the Yo-yo: The Work and Worth of Nursing in the 20th Century."

Scope and Contents note

This collection, assembled by Beatrice Ritter, includes information on Edith Cavell, Florence Nightingale, and European nursing.

Physical Description

0.06 Linear feet 3 folders

Institut Edith Cavell-Marie Depage; Ecole Belge D'Infirmieres Diplomees booklet, 1948; Postcard of hospital facilities; brief outline of Edith Cavell arrest and death.
Florence Nightingale, writing commentary; photograph and postcard of Florence Nightingale and sister Parthenope, 1836.
International Council of Nurses, 50th Anniversary Conference programs - Sweden, 1949.

Scope and Contents note

This small collection contains Soper's lecture notes from her time as a nursing student at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Physical Description

0.01 Linear feet 1 folder

Ledger with lecture notes, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP).

Scope and Contents note

This small collection contains Stern's issued manuals from her time as a student and employed nurse at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, accompanied by a photograph of Stern in uniform.

Physical Description

0.04 Linear feet 2 folders

Nursing Arts Procedure Book from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP); photograph of Peril in probationary student nurses' uniform.
Orientation manual, General Staff Nurse, 1959.

Scope and Contents note

This small collection contains items relating to Navy nursing.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

"Nursing Under Fire," reprint from the Military Surgeon; U.S.S. Consolation (AH-15) booklet, 1951; photograph, Pennsylvania nurses serving aboard U.S.S. Consolation, 1953.

Scope and Contents note

This collection contains one paper, "The Nightingale Model of Nursing," written by van der Peet.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

"The Nightingale Model of Nursing," address; Mainlaan 74, 5627VG Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Scope and Contents note

This collection contains mostly hand-written lecture notes (a few typed pages), both loose and in notebooks, on all aspect of nurses training (e.g., ethics, gymnastics, dietetics, gynecology, lab techniques, operations and operating room techniques, venereal disease, etc). The notes were taken by Overholt as a student from 1921 – 1923 at the Allentown Hospital School of Nursing. There also are senior exam questions in different subjects, and a page of the State Board exam questions for “Medical Nursing and Specialties”, June 8th, 1922.

Physical Description

0.2 Linear feet 11 folders

Small tan flip notebook containing class notes - Ethics?.
Notes on various topics.
Notes on various topics; exercises, dietetics.
Notes on various topics; dietetics, fever nursing, mental diseases, psychoanalysis.
Two pages, front and back, of gynecological notes.
Three pages of notes, labolation techniques.
Four pages, front and back, of operation notes; two pages, front and back, venereal disease notes.
Notes, operating room techniques.
Four pages of notes, venereal diseases.
Notes, miscellaneous.
Senior Exams, May 1921, and Philadelphia Examination, June 8, 1922.

Physical Description

0.08 Linear feet 4 folders

Operations seen in training, 1915-1916.
Graduating exercises of the Hahnemann Hospital, Scranton, PA, 1922-1923.
Correspondences; Lecture schedule, 1923.
Rules for graduate nurses, Hahnemann Hospital, Scranton, PA; House rules for nurses and nursing procedures, 1922.

Scope and Contents note

This collection consists of photos and program of the 1936 graduation of the Jewish Hospital School of Nursing.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

Program for 43rd Annual Commencement of the Training School for Nurses at the Jewish Hospital of Philadelphia; 3 photographs; note from Susan Shapiro.

Scope and Contents note

This small collection includes printed materials collected by Currier, along with one photograph of an American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) meeting from 1938. It also includes an oral history transcript of an interview with Russel Lynn about Currier's life and career, conducted when Currier was 102 years old.

Physical Description

0.05 Linear feet 2 folders

Slide: Photograph of American Association of Nurse Anesthetists banquet, photographed by Geo. E. Marshall Studio, Dallas Texas (produced by CCHA), 2006.
Pins: West Penn School of Nursing Hospital, engraved "Eleanor Ann Lynott 1959"; American Association Nurse Anesthetists.
Pennsylvania Tidings 15, No. 2 [News and Views of Pennsylvania Nurse Anesthetists], with photograph of Ms. Currier during her term as Vice President of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists and candidate for President-elect of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, August 1965.
Photograph of Helen Featherson, President Elect of AANA [clip from unidentified publication].
Highlights [WellSpan Health, York County [?], Pennsylvania], containing photograph and biographical article, December 1, 2003.
AANA News Bulletin, 36, No. 3. With article on Florence A. McQuillen, fomer AANA executive director, March 1982.
Photograph of Bernice Baum and Florence McQuillen at the National Convention in Chicago [clipping from unidentified publication].
Transcription: oral history interview by Russel Lynn, 2005.
Photograph of American Association of Nurse Anesthetists banquet, photographed by Geo. E. Marshall Studio, Dallas Texas 1938.
Flat File B Drawer 5

Scope and Contents note

This collection contains records of significant achievements in Fondes' career, notably her New Jersey and Pennsylvania nursing licenses and registration.

Physical Description

0.4 Linear feet 12 folders

List of patients since 1915.
Photocopy of acceptance letter, Mercer Hospital Training School, 1912.
Exams at Mercer Hospital Training School, 1912-1915.
Photocopy of acceptance letter, Mercer Hospital Training School, 1912, 1916.
50th Anniverary booklet, Mercer Hospital, 1945.
New Jersey and Pennsylvania State Board registration certificates, 1955-1970.
New Jersey and Pennsylvania State Board certificate of licensure, 1953.
Written report of analysis of Mrs. Fondes' handwriting, 1968.
Congratulatory letters received on the occasion of her 92nd and 93rd birthdays, 1981-1982.
Biographical sketch.
Miscellaneous items.
Photographs, 1912-1971.

Scope and Contents note

Dorothy L. Feifer Renz annotated this Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Procedure Manual during her time at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) School for Nursing between 1953-1954. It documents Renz's understanding of HUP's nursing curriculum and clinical practice procedures during the midcentury period.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

Hospital of University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing Procedure Manual, Annotated, circa 1954.

Scope and Contents note

This collection was donated by Michael Zwerdling, a collector of healthcare-related postcards. See donor file for photocopies of other postcards in his personal collection.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

4 postcards.

Scope and Contents note

This collection contains nursing stamps, envelopes, and embossed postal cards.

Physical Description

0.1 Linear feet 4 folder

Nursing stamps.
Bloomfield, Dorothy Reese . Nursing stamps, gift by Dorothy Reese Bloomfield. 28 first day covers, 2 Canadian stamps, and signed envelopes by Lucile Petry Leone.
Nursing stamp press releases, remarks, newspaper clippings and other information. Gift by Dorothy Reese Bloomfield.
Vogel, Joan R. . 4 stamps, Clara Maass. Gift by Joan R. Vogel.
Alumni Association of the School of Nursing of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. . Framed Nursing Stamps. Gift by the Alumnae Association of the Hospital of Pennsylvania.
MC 201. Edith Louisa Cavell collection, 1913-1922. 02 Linear feet.
Box 4
Scope and Contents note

This small collection consists of a photograph and biography of Edith Cavell, with a facsimile of a Luxemburg landscape.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

Scope and Contents note

This folder contains a paper about African American nurses authored by Osborne.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

"Some Facts, Impressions, and Recommendations, RE Negro Nurses," and a memo regarding the paper, 1954.
MC 206. Mahoney, Jean L. . Jean L. Mahoney photographs, 1942-1945. 02 Linear feet.
Box 5
Scope and Contents note

This collection consists of photographs of Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania nurses.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

Scope and Contents note

This collection consists of a Students' Nursing Practice Record for training completed at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, November 1940.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) Student Nursing Practice Record.

Scope and Contents note

This collection consists of approximately 200 pages of obstetrics class lecture notes taken by Marjorie E. McNeil, University of Michigan School of Nursing, July - September 1942. The notes are accompanied by a few pages of biographical material prepared by Laurie McNeil.

Physical Description

0.02 Linear feet 1 folder

Marjorie E. Snider McNeil biography prepared by Laurie E. McNeil (daughter), 2005.
Copy of photograph of Snider, original taken April 1944, 2005.
Photocopy of the notebook's cover.
University of Michigan School of Nursing lecture notes, 1943.

Scope and Contents note

This collection consists of several letters written by an Army nurse during World War I.

Physical Description

0.2 Linear feet 1 folder

2014.33. Mason, Joan D. . World War I Letters, 1918-1919.
Box 6

Scope and Contents note

Materials in this collection consist of printed materials regarding the Musuem of Danish Nursing History.

Physical Description

0.2 Linear feet

Printed Materials.
Box 6

Scope and Contents note

This collection contains 7 calendars of nurses from photographs to fine art.

Nursing: The Finest Art, 1986.
Vital Signs: Images of Nursing (2 calendars), 1989, 1990.
The Women's Memorial, 1995.
Nurses in Uniform, 1996.
Nurses in Action, 1996.
The Women's Memorial: Honoring Women Pioneers of World War I, 1996.
The Women's Memorial: Honoring American Women in Uniform in World War II, 1997.
RN: Nursing School Pin Collection, 1997.

Scope and Contents note

This collection was donated by Charles Rosenberger. These photographs are images of the students, teachers, and wards of St. Mary's Hospital in Troy, N.Y.

Physical Description

0.2 Linear feet

Photograph album.
Box EDMO:0001

Physical Description

1.0 Items

Photograph album, 1900.
Box MSSM:0003

Scope and Contents note

This collection was donated by Peter Short and consists of photographs of critical care nursing in hospital settings.

Physical Description

1.0 Linear feet Oversized

11x14" black and white photographs (13) of critical care nursing.
Box MSOS:0011

Scope and Contents note

This collection consists of lecture notes from Ruth Erikson (Messiner) while she attended the Phildelphia General Hospital Training School for Nurses (PGH).

Physical Description

0.5 Linear feet

Medical Diseases for Nurses, 1931.
Box 1 Folder 1
Nursing Procedures, PGH, c. 1931.
Box 1 Folder 2
Case Study, Broncho Pneumonia, 1934.
Box 1 Folder 3
Graduation photograph.
Box 1 Folder 4
Bacteriology notes, 1931.
Box 1 Folder 5
Anatomy notes.
Box 1 Folder 6

Print, Suggest