Research Guides: Nursing: History

Websites

American Association for the History of Nursing
Fosters the importance of history as relevant to understanding the past, defining the present, and influencing the future of nursing.
American Nurses Association Hall of Fame
Nurses whose dedication and achievements have significantly affected the nursing profession.
Army Nurse Corps History
Assembles and publishes reference materials, oral histories, original works, web publications, special studies, AMEDD newspaper/professional publications and print series.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery History Project
Aims to increase the profile of nursing and midwifery history in the community, and ensure that historically important nursing and midwifery resources are identified, conserved, and accessible.
B.C. (British Columbia) History of Nursing Society
Archives contains historical documents, publications, photographs, biographical profiles, oral histories, nursing equipment, pins, uniforms, books, & memorabilia. Site also includes online exhibits.
Baker-Cederberg Museum and Archives
Repository of Rochester General's rich heritage. Collections include minute books of Rochester General's various boards from 1847 to present, scrapbooks, uniforms, memorabilia, and a 22,000-image photo collection. (The Archives collection reflects the hospital's 150-year growth from the first board meeting to the present.) Included is the Rochester General Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Collection, 1880-1964.
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing
Ensures the generation of historical knowledge, scholarship, and research on healthcare and nursing history in the United States and around the world, thereby enabling a better understanding of contemporary healthcare issues.
Black Nurses in History: A Bibliography and Guide to Web Resources
Bibliography and guide to web resources from the Campbell Library at Rowan University.
Canadian Association for the History of Nursing
Promotes interest in the history of nursing and to develop scholarship in the field.
Center for Nursing History
Collection of nursing memorabilia from New York State and beyond, including papers, photos, letters, uniforms, and other memorabilia.
The Collected Works of Florence Nightingale
Includes Nightingale’s major published books, articles and pamphlets (many long out of print) and a vast amount of heretofore unpublished correspondence and notes. Extensive databases, notably a chronology and names index, and the original, unedited, transcriptions, will also be published in electronic form. This will permit convenient access to scholars interested not only in Nightingale but other major figures of her time.
Edith Cavell
Online exhibit to honor one of the first martyrs of World War I.
Edith Cavell 1865-1915
Commemorating Edith Cavell, the World War I British nurse who is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers in Brussels from all sides without distinction.
The Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry
Established at the University of Virginia in 1991 to support historical scholarship in nursing. It is dedicated to the preservation and study of nursing history.
Florence Nightingale Museum
Celebrates the life and work of the best-known figure in nursing history. The collection consists of personal material associated with Florence Nightingale including one of her famous lamps used by her during the Crimean War, her pet owl Athena, her iconic black dress and a nurse uniform from her training school.
Frontier Nursing University: A Journey Through Time
Mary Breckinridge, Frontier’s founder, was a compassionate and visionary pioneer nurse who, with her nurse colleagues, traveled on horseback to deliver care and attend births in Kentucky’s rural Appalachian mountains. This timeline highlights the important events leading up to the founding of this institution in 1939 and just some of the many ‘milestones’ it has reached in more than seven decades since.
Guide to Canadian Nursing Archival Resources
This national guide to nursing historical resources is the product of a national survey of nursing resources in Canadian archives, museums, and professional nursing organizations.
Highlights of Nursing in Virginia
History of the National League for Nursing
Includes an historical timeline, historical narrative, and the archives collection.
Living History Museum
Displays hundreds of historic items, including a 19th century nurse’s uniform, early 20th century textbooks and medical apparatus, and wartime letters and photographs collected by nurses serving in the military. It also features video and audio histories of nurses recounting stories from previous generations.
Midwest Nursing History Research Center
Central repository for nursing historical documents and artifacts from the Midwestern United States and serves as a center for scholars engaged in historical research.
Mississippi Public Health Nursing in the 1930s: The Historical Collection of Caroline H. Benoist
Includes materials owned and used by Miss Benoist during her career as a Public Health Nurse in Mississippi during the 1930s.
My Mother's War
Documentation from Helen T. Burrey, an American nurse who served the Red Cross during WWI.
North Carolina Nursing History
Dedicated to sharing the history and heritage of organized nursing in North Carolina.
Nurse Helen Fairchild
Helen Fairchild was a member of the Pennsylvania Hospital Unit during World War I. This website features a summary of her life and considerable correspondence from Miss Fairchild to family during her service at the front.
Nursing, History and Health Care
Source of historical background information on issues regarding the nursing profession and the provision of nursing care.
The Nursing Sisters of Canada
Tribute to Canadian Nursing Sisters tells of these brave and dedicated women. Their story is one of humor as well as anguish. It is a story of unyielding women who braved all the hardships of war to do their duty and care for their patients, and of those who nursed the casualties left in the wake of war.
Nursing Uniforms of the Past and Present - Nurse Uniforms History
Photo Collection of the Alumnae Association of the Philadelphia General Hospital School of Nursing
Includes over 1,500 images spanning the years 1880 to the 1970s. The collection features not only the School of Nursing, but also the wards and campus of the Philadelphia Almshouse and the Philadelphia General Hospital.
Pictures of Nursing: The Zwerdling Postcard Collection
Consists of postcards with images of nurses and the nursing profession from around the world, produced between 1893 and 2011 with many examples coming from the ‘Golden Age’ of postcards—roughly 1907 to 1920.
Pioneer Nurses of West Virginia
Honors pioneer nurses who were nurses in West Virginia from the 1860s through 1935. Also included are nurses from West Virginia who served in wars, from the Civil War through the Korean War.
Rush University Medical Center Archives
Includes records from Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing, St. Luke's Hospital Training School for Nurses, and Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing, all located in Chicago.
Saint Philip School of Nursing
Browse the collection of this school of nursing which was formed during the first quarter of the twentieth century when southern law and social practice demanded separate facilities for the races.
Southern Labor Archives: A Guide to the Collections: Nurses
Dedicated to collecting, preserving and making available the documentary heritage of Southern workers and their unions, as well as that of workers and unions having an historic relationship to the region.
Virginia Nursing Hall of Fame
Designed to stimulate interest in the history of nursing in the Commonwealth and to perpetuate the legacy of those nurses who shaped health care in Virginia.

Nursing: History

Books in the Library Collection

Books

Journals & Indices

History of Nursing Around the World

History of Nursing: Development of Nursing in the United States

Articles

Websites