Artifacts and memorabilia from various donors. Included are a public health nurse's bag used at the Schenectady Visiting Nurses Association, ca. 1918, a collection of glass slides depicting the history of nursing, a nurse's delivery bag, and a nurse's kit used in private duty practice.
Papers and memorabilia of Sylvia M. Barker, a 1936 Mt. Sinai Hospital School of Nursing graduate whose nursing career spanned almost seven decades. She held several key leadership positions at Mt. Sinai Hospital. She has been professionally active in District 13 of the New York State Nurses Association, the Alumnae Association of the Mt. Sinai School of Nursing, the New York State Nurses Association and Nurses House. She has won numerous awards and accolades over the course of her career. Collection includes photographs, scrapbooks, uniforms and personal records.
Unprocessed papers of Elaine E. Beletz, graduate of the Mt. Sinai Hospital School of Nursing, with an EdD from Teachers College, Columbia University. She was President of the New York State Nurses Association from 1979-1981. In addition to her involvement in professional organizations at a state and national level, Dr. Beletz has also written many articles and is currently an Associate Professor in the College of Nursing at Villanova University. The papers include a number of books and materials collected through her involvement with the American Nurses Association (ANA) and NYSNA.
Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing was founded in 1873 and closed in 1969. It was the first school in the United States patterned on Florence Nightingale's principals of nursing education. Nurses trained at the Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing took courses in and affiliated with hospitals that focused on psychiatric/mental health nursing. The historical materials of the Bellevue School of Nursing Alumnae Association include records about and from alumnae (including many of the most influential nursing leaders) of the closed School of Nursing in New York, NY, photographs, student uniforms, and yearbooks. Of particular interest are photographs of Bellevue Hospital and the School of Nursing over the course of the School's history. The alumnae papers also include information about military nursing in World War II, especially the papers of Thelma J. Ryan. Coverage of the Mills School of Nursing (for male nurses) and the Bellevue School for Midwives is limited.
Anastasia Berdy was an avid collector infant and invalid feeders and other health-related artifacts. Among the wide variety of material encompassed in this very large collection are historic and rare medical text books, bedpans and urinals, spa cups, eye cups, patent medicines, "quack" medical devices, home care supplies, medicine spoons and cups, thermometers and much more. The collection also includes some of Berdy's personal memorabilia, including nursing school items and photographs. Berdy was a graduate of the St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing. She spent much of her life in Schenectady, NY where she was an active member of the Schenectady RN Club. The Berdy collection is currently unprocessed.
Unprocessed papers of Nettie Birnbach, EdD, RN, FAAN, who served in the Cadet Nurse Corps and received her doctoral degree from Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Birnbach is a clinical nurse specialist in community health and has spent most of her career in nursing education. She served on the faculty of the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn as an associate professor and the director of the Center for Nursing Research. She served as president of the New York State Nurses Association and was active in NYSNA District 19. Throughout her career she has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Award for Leadership in Professional Organizations from the Nurses Educations Alumni Association, Teachers College, Columbia University and a Fellowship in the American Academy of Nursing. The papers include Cadet Nurse Corps material, including her uniform; Dr. Birnbach's doctoral dissertation; District 19 records; and various professional papers from throughout her career including correspondence, programs, and certificates and awards.
Barbara Bishop is a maternity and pediatric nurse. She is a 1962 graduate of St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota and received an M.N. from the University of Washington in Maternal Child Health. She began her career as a staff nurse in the Children's Orthopedic Hospital in Seattle. Soon she began teaching and worked as an instructor at Central Washington Deaconness in Wenatchee, Washington from 1964 to 1965, and then at St. Olaf College from 1965-1967. Bishop attained the rank of Assistant Professor of Maternal-Child Health Nursing at St. Olaf College in 1968, and became Assistant Professor for the Division of Public Health Nursing at the University of Minnesota from 1969 through 1971, a dual position during which she also served as Maternity Nurse Clinical Specialist at Pilot City Health Center. She has also worked as Nurse-Coordinator for Special Education Programs for the Minneapolis Health Dept and MCN Consultant to public health nurses from 1971 through 1973. She was the Program Coordinator for the Division of Maternal Child Nursing at the American Nurses Association from 1973 to 1975, and was the founder and editor of MCN, The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing from 1975 to 1997. Throughout her career, she has also worked as a private consultant and writer.
Barbara Bishop has published numerous articles in publications such as the American Journal of Nursing (AJN), Nursing Outlook, and Press Agent (the newsletter of the Third District of the Minnesota Nurses Association). In 1975 she published, with Aleda V. Roth, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner-Their Practice Today. She published Maternity Cycle: One Nurse's Reflections in 1979, which was awarded AJN's Book of the Year Award. With Thelma Schorr she edited Readings for Today's Maternal/Child Nurse, published in 1987.
Bishop has been the recipient of many awards and honors throughout her career. She was inducted into Sigma Theta Tau in 1965 and was honored as a Nurse Who's Made Significant Contributions to Women's Health by the Foundation of New York Counties Registered Nurses Association in 1988.
Her papers include publications and the background material for many of her writings, unpublished writings and research material, professional correspondence, photographs, and awards and honors.
Papers and memorabilia of Col. Eileen Bonner, a nurse who held chief nurse positions in various New York hospitals and numerous leadership positions in other professional nursing organizations in New York State. She was the first woman to be elected President of the Reserves Officers Association. Collection includes papers, military uniforms and materials collected over the course of her career.
Janie Brown, graduate of the Mt. Sinai School of Nursing, is a nursing educator and author. She has done some work on a project with Stephen Spielberg on holocaust survivors. Collection includes papers, books, and a taped interview with R. Louise McManus.
Collection of Army Nurse Corps and Red Cross recruitment posters, primarily from WWII, donated by Dr. D'Ann Campbell, a researcher and academic administrator who has written extensively on women's history, social and military history.
Formed early in the development of the New York State Associate Degree Nursing Project, the Council of Associate Degree Nursing in New York State, Inc. began its existence as the New York State Associate Degree Nursing Council in 1959. The Council was incorporated in 1972.
The goal for creating such an organization was to gather individuals in Associate Degree nursing educatino to develop ideas and plans to strengthen Associate Degree nursing education in New York.
Over the years, the Council has taken part in compiling data for comparison of Associate Degree programs; produced resolutions, position papers, and fact sheets on vital nursing issues; held workshops and other programs to strengthen Associate Degree education; and provided a much needed opportunity for professional contact for Associate Degree nursing administrators and educators.
Records of the Council of Deans of Nursing document the group's activities from its establishment in 1969. Primarily meeting materials and correspondence, the records have been maintained by the current chairperson. Bylaws and materials on selected topics of interest to the group are also included. Minutes of meetings of the predecessor group, the Conference of Deans and Directors, is included for 1964-68. These records chronicle issues of interest to nurse educators in New York state for the past thirty years. Several nationally prominent nurse educators have served as chairperson of this group.
Grace Davidson (1920-2001) was a graduate of Butler University in Indiana, the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing, and Teachers College, Columbia University. She served in the Army Nurse Corps in WWII, and eventually retired from the Army Reserves with the rank of Major. She was a faculty member at Skidmore College, and later served as the Chief Nursing Officer at the NYU Medical Center in New York. Her collection includes Army Nurse Corps and student nurse uniforms, a scrapbook from WWII, some clippings and publication from the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing, and miscellaneous papers accumulated through her time at Columbia Presbyterian and Teachers College. There is also an oral history interview with her on tape.
District 1 of the New York State Nurses Association traces its origins to the Buffalo District Nurses Association which was organized in 1885, and became incorporated in 1891 with the object of providing nursing care for the citizens of Buffalo. When the American Nurses Association bylaws changes created district or county level affiliates of state nurses associations throughout the United States, representatives from the Buffalo Nurses Association and various alumnae groups in the Buffalo area organized and incorporated as the Western New York District of the New York State Nurses Association. Members of District I have worked at the local level to promote and implement suitable legislation and other programs initiated by the New York State Nurses Association, and has provided leadership to the Association. The records of District I of the New York State Nurses Association document fifty years of development and growth of the nursing profession in western New York. Records include various minutes and meeting materials, treasurer's reports, newsletters, correspondence, clippings, photographs, audio tapes, and 16 mm. films used to recruit students into the nursing profession (1945-65). Also included is a copy of History of District I, published in 1941. Records contain information on a variety of nursing concerns, including economic security, legislation, public health nursing and nurse recruitment.
District 2 of the New York State Nurses Association was organized and incorporated in 1919 in response to the American Nurses Association's move to create district or county affiliates of state nurses associations. Composed of nurses from Allegany, Livingston, Monroe, Wayne and Ontario Counties, District 2 traces its origins to the Monroe County Association of Registered Nurses, Inc., formed in 1900. The objects for which the corporation was formed as listed in the 1940 Articles of Incorporation included: advancement of the standards of nursing; furtherance of the efficient care of the sick; maintenance of the honor and character of the nursing profession; furtherance of cordial relations between the members with other nurses in New York state; and to acquire, conduct and maintain a central directory clubhouse for nurses.
Records of District 2 include Board of Directors minutes, district meeting minutes, annual meeting proceedings, financial reports, and Articles of Incorporation and bylaws as amended in 1940. Minutes of other groups of interest include the Private Duty Section and the District Advisory Council. Miscellaneous annual reports of other district sections and committees are found in the annual meeting files. Included are listings of officers, directors and committee chairmen (1939-44) and miscellaneous financial records. Topics of particular interest include nursing's response to World War II, employment conditions of private duty nurses, and the 1938 revision of the Nurse Practice Act.
Unprocessed records of District 14 of the New York State Nurses Association, scheduled to be transferred beginning in 1993, document this NYSNA constituent district nurses association. Records include meeting materials, correspondence, publications, and subject files. Many records such as meeting materials and correspondence supplement the NYSNA archival collection. Collection includes extensive information on student recruitment, activities of the nursing profession during World War II, hospital personnel practices, and private duty nursing registries.
Records of District 14 of the New York State Nurses Association document this NYSNA constituent district nurses association. Records include meeting materials, correspondence, publications and subject files. Collection includes extensive information on student recruitment, activities of the nursing profession during World War II, and hospital personnel practices. In addition the archives of District 14, this collections contains the archives of the School Nurse Teachers Association-Suffolk Zone, the Nursing Bureau of Brooklyn, the Nursing Bureau of District 14, the Nursing Bureau of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, the South Shore Nursing Bureau, and the Nursing Council for War Service on Long Island, the papers of Ethel G. Prince, and student records of the Bushwick Hospital Jewett Training School of Nursing.
District 17, the Nurses Association of Rockland County, was formed in 1948, under Chairwoman Gladys Weber and Secretary Josephine Gentile. Weber would go on to be elected the first president of the District. In 1951, the District's Certificate of Incorporation was filed under President Martha Henry.
In the early days, the District performed a great deal of fundraising, to support operations as well as to fund scholarships and awards for nursing students and nurses. Throughout the 1950s, District events revolved around fundraising and included such activities as a merchandise club, theatre parties, fashion shows, "stop the clock," and blouse parties.
The District later began to expand into hosting programs which would now be called "continuing education" programs. These programs were aimed at working nurses who desired to keep their professional knowledge fresh and remain aware of advances in the field of nursing.
The District has also supported, financially as well an nominally, studies performed by members of the District.
The District is still active to this day, hosting continuing education programs and providing professional support to the nurses or Rockland County. For information about current activities of the District, visit their Web site.
The Ellis Hospital School of Nursing in Schenectady, NY was founded in 1903 as the Schenectady Hospital Association's Training School for Nurses. (The name was not officially changed to the Ellis Hospital School of Nursing until 1958.) The first class was admitted in 1903, to graduate in 1906. In 1906 Ellis Hospital moved from its Jay Street location (at the site of the present Schenectady City Hall) to the corner of Nott Street and Rosa Road. At this time the hospital also constructed a residence for nursing students, Whitmore Home, and the following year the school was incorporated as department of Ellis Hospital in 1907. Over the years the School of Nursing has had affiliations with various local colleges, initially with Union College, then with Russell Sage College, and finally with the Schenectady County Community College (SCCC). It currently operates a joint 21-month Associate Degree program with SCCC.
The collection consists primarily of photographs, newspaper clippings, and scrapbooks about both Ellis Hospital and the School of Nursing. Many of the School's records are still kept at the School of Nursing at 1101 Nott Street in Schenectady, NY.
The Marguerite Harris Papers include personal and professional papers created and collected by Marguerite Harris throughout her career as a public health nurse. As well as paper records, this collection includes some photographs, uniforms, framed material and other artifacts. Of particular interest are two scrapbooks created by American Red Cross home nursing classes, Harris' personal correspondence and material from Harris' time in Puerto Rico.
The collection is divided into five series: Series 1, Rockland Count; Series 2, Dominican College; Series 3, Personal Papers; Series 4, Clippings; Series 5, Books. It also includes some artifacts and oversized material.
Marjorie Elizabeth Goodier Hemenway was a graduate of St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing in Utica. Her collection contains historical nursing books and texts from the late 19th century through the 1940s, papers from her involvement in the St. Luke's Alumni Association, and various nursing artifacts and tools.
Eleanor Lee Hill was born at Samaritan Hospital in Troy, NY in 1929. She would go on to graduate from the Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing in 1950. Following graduation, Hill continued to work at Samaritan Hospital holding a variety of positions. She is currently active in the Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association and the Brunswick Historical Society. The seven volumes held in this collection represent only her nursing education and career.
This collection of seven scrapbooks contains biographical and explanatory narratives, correspondence, photographs, newsclippings, pamphlets, programs, invitations, newsletters and publications, charts, drawings, receipts, reports, and much more personal and professional memorabilia.