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August 2013
Selector: Alexandra Sarkozy
History of Nursing is an exciting and particularly relevant topic today as we brace for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the changes in our healthcare financing and delivery systems it entails- including changes to nursing organization and practice. The selections for this guide include books on nursing history on display in the Purdy-Kresge Library (available for checkout!), selected books and ebooks from our collection, nursing history journal articles, digitized primary sources in the public domain, and information on collections at Wayne State University and other institutions that house historical nursing archival and image collections. I hope you enjoy browsing these selections.
History of Nursing
Original from University of Michigan, via Hathi Trust.
Books at Wayne State University Library
Books and ebooks in our WSU Library collection. Click on the link to access catalog records to the books. If the book is an ebook, you can read it immediately by clicking on the link that says "Connect to this resource." If it's a book available for checkout, click the "Get It!" link at the top of the page to have the book delivered to the library of your choice for pickup, or you can go to the library and retrieve the book from the shelf and check it out.
Feminism and Nursing by Call Number: RT 86.5 .R63 1995ISBN: 0275949168Publication Date: 1995-03-30The only book available that provides a strong feminist perspective on important gender issues in the development of the nursing profession.
History as Evidence: Nursing Interventions Through Time (ebook) by Call Number: ebookISBN: 9780826105783Publication Date: 2011
A History of Nursing Ideas by Call Number: RT 31 .H575 2006ISBN: 0763722898Publication Date: 2005-09-28The first of its kind, this text examines nursing ideas and theories from a historical, theoretical, and professional lens. As a foundation for socialization into the professional nursing role, The book demonstrates the contextual development of nursing as a profession, highlighting the connections between the social history of nursing and health care; the evolution of nursing theory, practice and research; And The resulting challenges of our past, present, and future. Section One examines the critical threads in nursing ideas-gender, culture, race, community, environment, and technology. Section Two traces the history of theory development, from the philosophical underpinnings of ways of knowing in nursing, nursing science, To application of theory in nursing practice. Section Three analyzes professional practice, education, and research.
Mary Eliza Mahoney, 1845-1926 : America's first Black professional nurse : a historical perspective by Call Number: RT 37 .M25 M5 1986ISBN: 0935087133Publication Date: 1986-01-01
Primary Source: Florence Nightingale's Notes on Nursing for the Labouring Classes (HathiTrust)
Original from Harvard University
Nightingale, F. (1861).Notes on nursing for the labouring classes.London: Harrison.
Research Collections
Links to research collections that contain primary sources and images about the history of nursing:
- Reuther Library at WSU: Grace Hospital Records"Grace Hospital opened for patients in December, 1888 with seventy-five beds. It expanded rapidly over the next several decades, serving over 15,000 inpatients and 90,000 outpatients by its fiftieth year, 1938, and opening the Northwest Branch in 1942. Building additions in 1953 and 1964 made Grace the second largest voluntary non-profit hospital in Michigan. Grace and Harper Hospitals merged in 1973 and consolidated with other hospitals in the newly-created Detroit Medical Center in 1985. The Grace Hospital Collection consists of the materials relating to the administration of the hospital and the Detroit Medical Center, medical procedures and education, the activities of the Grace Hospital School of Nursing and the hospital Women's Auxiliary, and to the history of health care and hospital development in Detroit in the twentieth century."
- The Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry (UVA)"The Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry, established at the University of Virginia in 1991 to support historical scholarship in nursing, is dedicated to the preservation and study of nursing history. The goals of the Bjoring Center include the collection of materials, the promotion of scholarship, and the dissemination of historical research findings."
- Nursing History Collection (UConn)"The Archives acquires, preserves and makes accessible the papers and records of Connecticut organizations that support the nursing profession and the personal papers of individuals who have made a significant contribution to nursing within the state.
The Archives offer an extraordinary opportunity to bring together in one location significant Connecticut history-of-nursing collections. Materials are available to both graduate and undergraduate nursing students at the University of Connecticut and are generally available for use by the scholarly community at large." - Barbara Bates Center for The Study of The History of Nursing (UPenn)"The Barbara Bates Center for The Study of the History of Nursing at Penn Nursing is the preeminent center for scholarship in nursing history. The mission of the Bates Center is to ensure the generation of historical knowledge, scholarship, and research on healthcare and nursing history in the U.S. and across the globe. "
- History of Nursing Archives (Boston University)"Established in 1966 with help from a United States Public Health Service grant, the History of Nursing Archives contains the personal and professional papers of nursing leaders; records of the schools of nursing; public health and professional nursing organizations; histories of various American and foreign schools of nursing, including early textbooks; as well as a very extensive book collection. These manuscripts and books document the evolution of the profession and its contribution to the fields of public health, women's rights, and military history."
- History of the Health Sciences Libraries and Archives PageAdditional collections that contain archival materials relevant to the history of health sciences. Created and maintained by the History of the Health Sciences division of the Medical Library Association.
History of Nursing in PubMed
Recent articles published on the history of nursing in PubMed. Mouse over each title for additional information:
Featured Websites on History of Nursing
Nurse Preparing a Clysis in Supply Room, circa 1900
Image from the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing
Philadelphia General Hospital Photo Collection
- Penn Nursing Science: Nursing, History and Health Care"Welcome to the Nursing, History and Health Care website. This unique site serves as a source of historical background information on issues regarding the nursing profession and the provision of nursing care. It addresses a wide range of topics critical to comprehending and broadening our understanding of health care and nursing concerns, including the role of professional nurses, nurse shortages, workplace problems and public health issues."
- Philadelphia General Hospital Photo Collection (UPenn)"As announced in the Spring 2013 edition of The Chronicle, the Philadelphia General Hospital photo collection is a collaboration between the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing and the Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text and Image (SCETI). Featuring over a thousand images which cover the full history of the PGH nursing school, this site will serve as an invaluable research resource that highlights the evolution of the City of Philadelphia and the growth of the nursing profession in general. The photos also provide a visual narrative to issues of class, race, and the inequity found in healthcare access during the 19th and 20th centuries."
- Mississippi Public Health Nursing in the 1930's (UVa)A Project of the Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry. Online exhibit includes photographs and historical documents.