This is a listing of some centers and archives available for study of the history of nursing. It is not a comprehensive list; historical research involves considerable searching for source material. There are presently two searchable databases for archival holdings in the United States but inclusion in the database is voluntary and entry may lag behind submission. This list includes regional centers which serve as nursing repositories, and some specialty nursing organizations with archives as well as institutions with significant holdings in nursing. Additions and corrections to this list are encouraged; please contact aahn@aahn.org
For information on using archives and primary sources see: Using Archives
For those seeking to preserve their history, here are two sources of information:
The Society of American Archivists has published a Guide to Donating Personal Papers to a Repository
In conjunction with Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing in New York State Records Survey The NYSNA Foundation has prepared Caring for Archival Records: Preserving Nursing’s Historic Treasures, advice and resources for nurses and others with historical records under their care. What to save and Where to Save it are addressed. This page offers the basics on caring for archival records for individuals and organizations without a trained archivist on staff.
Caring for Archival Records.
Please support nursing archives and history centers
to preserve our professional heritage .
ArchiveGrid,
is a searchable database of archives.
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections [NUCMC],
from the Library of Congress, also searches RLG Union Catalog
ArchiveUSA
provides access to an integrated database of three sources:
NUCMC--National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections,
NIDS--National Inventory of Documentary Resources in the United States, and
DAMRUS--Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States.
Available through subscription
The History of the Health Sciences Section of Medical Library Association has a list of
History of the Health Sciences Libraries and Archives
The Special Collections at the Universtiy of Idaho has a listing of archives Repositories List
List of Centers, Archives and Museums
Canada
International
United States
Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives
The Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions houses the Johns Hopkins Nursing Historical Collection, the Church Home Nursing Collection and the Dorothea Orem Collection. The Johns Hopkins and Church Home collections contain personal papers of nearly 200 individual nurses, including Isabel Hampton Robb, Adelaide Nutting, and Anna Wolf, as well as photographs, material culture, a Florence Nightingale Collection, and institutional records of the Johns Hopkins and Church Home schools of nursing and their alumni associations.
The Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives
The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
5801 Smith Avenue, Suite 235
Baltimore, MD 21209
Telephone: 410-735-6800; Fax. 410-735-6770
E-mail: Web site: Website
American Association for Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) Archives
222 S. Prospect Ave.
Park Ridge, IL 60068-4001
Kathy Koch, MLIS
Telephone: 847-692-7050, ext.3006
Web site: AANA Web Site
E-mail: KKoch@aana.com
American National Red Cross
The Hazel Braugh Records Center houses current and inactive records of the American National Red Cross, and has a collection of books, photographs, tapes and films.
Hazel Braugh Records Center
American Red Cross
5818 Seminary Road
Falls Church, VA 22041
Telephone: 703-813-5380 FAX (703) 813-5389Many historical American Red Cross nursing files are in the Red Cross gifted material at the National Archives (II), managed as Records Group 200. Indexes to this material are available at both the Hazel Braugh Center and the National Archives:
National Archives at College Park
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001
Telephone: 301-713-6800
National Archives
Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United StatesFor World War I Era Military Nursing, records are located at National Archives (I):
National Archives
Pennsylvania Avenue at 7th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20408
Telephone: 202-501-5385
Archives of Nursing Leadership
The Archives of Nursing Leadership is a joint program of the University of Connecticut School of Nursing and the Thomas J. Dodd Research. The archives acquires, preserves and make 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 collection includes the Josephine Dolan papers, the Virginia Henderson Research Collection the Connecticut Training School for Nurses Alumni Association, and the North East Organization for Nursing (NEON).
Archives & Special Collections
Thomas J. Dodd Research Center
405 Babbidge Rd U-205
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT 06269-1005
Telephone: 860-486-2524
E-mail: DoddRef@Lib.UConn.edu
Web site: Josephine A. Dolan Collection
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing
The center, at the University of Pennsylvania, was established in 1985 to encourage and facilitate historical scholarship on health care history and nursing in the United States. The Center continues to create and maintain a resource for such research; to improve the quality and scope of historical scholarship on nursing; and to disseminate new knowledge on nursing history through education, conferences, publications, and inter-disciplinary collaboration.
University of Pennsylvania
School of Nursing, Nursing Education Building
Philadelphia, PA 19104-9959
Telephone: 215-898-4502
Dr. Julie Fairman, Director
E-mail: nhistory@nursing.upenn.edu.
Website: Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing
Bellevue Alumnae Center for Nursing History
The center is part of the Foundation of the New York State Nurses Association.
Some of the holdings are:
NYSNA, New York State Nurses for Political Action, Records, 1971-87, New York State School Nurse Teachers Association, Records, 1931-78,
NYSNA 1952-98, Genesee Valley Nurses' Association Archives, Records, 1939-45,
Ellis Hospital School of Nursing
New York State Nurses for Political Action
New York State School Nurse Teachers Association
Nurses Association of the Counties of Long Island Archives, Records, 1920-91,
District 1 of NYSNA, Records, 1919-69,
Council of Deans of Nursing: Senior Colleges and Universities in New York State, Records, 1964-93,
Nurses House Archives, Records, 1925-98
“Preserving the History of Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing:
A Guide to Locating Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing Records in New York State” The personal papers of Martha Rogers, Eleanor Lambertson, Elaine E. Beletz and Marguerite B. Harris are also here.
Bellevue Alumnae Center for Nursing History
The Veronica Driscoll Center for Nursing
2113 Western Avenue
Guilderland, New York 12084-9501
Telephone: 518-456-7858 ext. 24 FAX:(518)-452-3760
Website: Foundation of NYSNA
Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry
Established at the University of Virginia in 1991 to support historical scholarship in nursing, the Center is dedicated to the preservation and study of nursing history in the United States. The goals of the Center include the collection of materials, the promotion of scholarship, and the dissemination of historical research findings.
The Center runs a regular series of nursing history forums, sponsors the annual Agnes Dillon Randolph Award and Lecture, mounts exhibits, awards a yearly historical research fellowship, and publishes a newsletter, Windows in Time.
University of Virginia Health Sciences Center
McLeod Hall
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Charlottesville, VA 22903
Dr. Arlene Keeling, Director 434-924-0131
E-mail: nurs-hxc@virginia.edu
Archivist: Anne McKeithen, T elephone: 434-924-0083;
Website: Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry
Center for Nursing History, Ethics, and Human Rights
The Center for Nursing History, Ethics, and Human Rights, established at Purdue University in 2003, promotes leadership and advocacy in historical, ethical, and human rights issues influencing healthcare.
Center for Nursing History, Ethics, and Human Rights
Purdue University School of Nursing
502 N. University Street
Johnson Hall of Nursing
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2069
Telephone: 765-494-4023 FAX 765-494-6339
Website: Center for Nursing History, Ethics, and Human Rights
Clendening History of Medicine Library
The collection includes a letters from Florence Nightingale, which have been digitized.
University of Kansas Medical Center
3901 Rainbow Blvd
Kansas City KS 66160-7311
Telephone: 913-588-7244 Fax: 913-588-7060
Website: Clendening History of Medicine
Crile Hospital Archives -
This is a former US Army Hospital is to document the history of the African American Nurse. They are eliciting materials to further enhance the collection.
E-mail Dr. Banks
The Crile Archives Western Campus C.C.C.
11000 Pleasant Valley Road
Parma, OH 44130
Telephone: 216-987-5594 Fax: 216-987-5050
Website: Crile Hospital Archives -Current Project
The Florence and Ike Sewell Museum, Northwestern Hospital, Chicago
251 East Huron Street
Feinberg Pavilion, 3rd Floor
Chicago, IL
Website: Museum at Northwestern Hospital
History of Medicine Division at the National Library of Medicine
The National Library of Medicine manuscript collection includes the American College of Nurse Midwives, the Henry Street Settlement, National Organization for Public Health Nursing, the Society of Superintendents of Training Schools and the National League for Nursing Education and the National League for Nursing .
The Prints and Photographs Collection includes a pictorial documentation of nursing; an index is available and copies may be purchased.
History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20894
Telephone: 301-496-5405
Website: National Library of MedicineHistorical Nursing Archives Westchester Rockland County [NY]
Lienhard School of Nursing, Pace University
This collection focuses on local nursing history in Westchester/Rockand Counties, New York emphasizing the activities of schools of nursing and health care organizations. The collection has five major categories: Zeta Omega at-Large Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International; Nurses Association of Westchester County of New York State; Lienhard School of Nursing, Pace University (NY); New York Medical College Graduate School of Nursing and miscellaneous photographs, artifacts, books, audio-visual tapes and other materials.
The collection is housed on the Pleasantville Campus of Pace University in the Doris and Edward Mortola Library, 861 Bedford Road in Pleasantville, New York, 10570.
Call 914-773-3380 for an appointment.
A finder's guide is available online
HNAWR Archive Website
Inez G. Hinsvark Historical Gallery
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
PO Box 413
Milwaukee, WI 53201
Laurie Glass, RN, PhD, FAAN; Director
Website: Nursing Museum on the WebHistory of Nursing Archives
Collection includes 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. Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center
Boston University
771 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
Website: History of Nursing Archives, Boston.
Hunter College Special Collections
Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing is found here. Hunter College Special CollectionsMary L. Pekarski Collection in the Burns Library, Boston College
The Pekarski Collection has focused on the history of nursing; bioethics; and the Catholic, especially Jesuit, influence on nursing. The collection includes: Josephine Dolan Collection - including letters from Florence Nightingale and Dorothea Lynde Dix, the New England Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing Collection - from founding in 1893 to closing in 1989, the Rita P. Kelleher Collection the Margaret Colliton Collection , MICA, VNA of Boston, Legal/Ethical Aspects of Nursing, The American Association of Nurse Attorneys, and North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA) archives.
Website: Boston College Libraries
Midwest Nursing History Research Center at the University of Illinois, Chicago
maintains a museum with nursing related artifacts.
845 S. Damen Ave.
Chicago, IL 60612-7350
Telephone: 312-996-0621 Fax: 312.996.8945
Email: ghlo@uic.edu
Website: Midwest Nursing History Resource Center
Records and papers have been moved to the University of Illinois at Chicago University Archives at the Library of the Health Sciences Special Collections Department.
The website has transcriptions of some Nightingale letters.
Archives/Special Collections
Library of the Health Sciences
University of Illinois at Chicago
1750 West Polk
Chicago, IL 60616-7223
Telephone: 312-996-8977
Website: UIC ArchivesMuseum of Nursing History
The museum is an important educational arm for the community concerning the contribution of nursing past and present. It is a repository in which individuals can place priceless memorabilia - books, documents, letters, photographs, scrapbooks, yearbooks, caps and uniforms (prior to 1920), medals, pins and military artifacts. At: Friends Hospital
8th & 4641 Roosevelt Blvd
Philadelphia
Museum's Mailing address:
The Museum of Nursing History, Inc.
761 Sproul Road, #299
Springfield, PA 19064
Telephone: 215-843-9501
Website: Museum Website
Oncology Nursing Society Archives
Oncology Nursing Society
501 Holiday Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15220-2749
Telephone: 412-928-9584 #255; Fax: 412-921-6565
Website: ONS Archives
Rush University Medical Center Archives.
These Chicago Nursing Schools have their records at Rush:
Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing
St. Luke's Hospital Training School for Nurses
Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing
Rush University Medical Center Archives
1700 West Van Buren Street, Suite 086
Chicago, IL 60612
Telephone: 312-942-7214 Fax: (312) 942-3342
Email: Rush_Archives@rush.edu
Website: Rush University Medical Center Archives
Southwest Center for Nursing History
Collections focus on regional nursing history.
The Center for American History
The University of Texas at Austin
Sid Richardson Hall 2.101
1 University Station D1100
Austin, Texas 78712-0335
Telephone: 512-471-4910
Website: Southwest Center for Nursing History
Special Collections, Teachers College,and Columbia University Medical Center
Of special interest to nurses is the archives of the Nursing Education Department, founded by Mary Adelaide Nutting. The Medical Center Archives has Nightingale Letters. Special Collections
The Gottesman Libraries Teachers College, Columbia University 525 West 120th Street New York, NY 10027 Telephone: 212-678-4104 Fax: (212) 678-3092
Website: Special Collections Columbia University Medical Center
Archives & Special Collections,Columbia University Medical Center
Health Sciences Library, Lower Level 1
701 W. 168th St.
New York, NY 10032
Website: Special Collections, Teachers CollegeSouthern Labor Archives
Located in the Special Collections Department at Georgia State University. The collections include records of state nurses associations from the District of Columbia, Maryland, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia.
Special Collections & Archives,
Georgia State University Library,
100 Decatur Street SE,
Georgia State University,
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3202
Website: Southern Labor ArchivesSouth Florida Nursing Archives
Florida International University, Miami.United States Army Center of Military History, Army Nurse Corps Collection
This web site contains considerable content and
photographs relevant to the history of the Army Nurse Corps.
Richard Prior, Army Nurse Corps Historian
Office of Medical History, Office of the Surgeon General
5109 Leesburg Pike
Falls Church, VA 22041
Telephone: 703-681-2849
Website: Army Nurse Corps - History Web PageUniversity of Maryland School of Nursing Museum
Permanent museum exhibition and growing archives documenting the evolution of Maryland's largest and oldest continuously operated school of nursing from its founding as a hospital training school in 1889 to a leading research institution. Museum transcends its institutional roots to offer an evocative depiction of modern American nursing. University of Maryland School of Nursing Museum
655 W. Lombard Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
Telephone: 410-706-1502; Fax: 410-706-0399
Website: University of MarylandViaHealth Archives Consortium: The Baker-Cederberg Museum and Archives, Genesee Hospital Archives, TGH School Nursing Archives, Myers Community Hospital, Sodus New York, Rochester General Hospital
Collects and preserves materials and disseminates information that chronicles the development of Rochester City/Rochester General Hospital and its Affiliates. The collections include the School of Nursing at Rochester City/General hospital (1880-1964), Isabella Graham Hart School of Practical Nursing (1964 - present), Florence Nightingale Post American Legion (1918 -present), Base Hospital 19 (1916-1920), 19th General Hospital, AUS (1940-1950), Fitch's French Military Hospital (1914-1919), Genesee Hospital, Myers Community Hospital, Behavioral Health (Rochester Mental Health Center) Collection plus several tenant collections including: The New York State and Genesee Dietetic Associations and the Society for Total Emergency Programs (STEP)
333 Humboldt Street,
Rochester New York 14610.
Telephone: 585-922-1847
Website: Baker-Cederberg
Canada
Archives Canada
Portal to Canada's National Archives
Associated Medical Services Nursing History Research Unit
The Unit is the first funded research unit in Canada dedicated to the history of nursing. The Research Unit will develop, nurture and coordinate the study of nursing history in Canada.
The Unit also aims to coordinate the donations of nursing archival sources to appropriate depositories and to maintain a comprehensive bibliography on Canadian nursing history.
The AMS Nursing History Research Unit is located in the School of Nursing at the University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Meryn Stuart, Director.
Contact:
Dr Jayne Elliott, Research Facilitator/Administrator
Room 3245A, School of Nursing
University of Ottawa
451 Smyth Road
Ottawa, ON K1H 8M5
Canada
Website: AMS Nursing History Research Unit
Margaret M. Allemang Centre for the History of Nursing
The Margaret M Allemang Centre for the History of Nursing is an organization open to anyone interested in the history of nursing in Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1993, the Centre works to increase the visibility of nursing's major role in our society. Their newsletter is online.
355 Millwood Road
Toronto, Ontario M4S 1J9
E-mail Dr. Young
Website: Margaret M. Allemang Centre for the History of Nursing
Musee des Hospitalieres de l'Hotel-Dieu de Montreal
Located next to the Hotel-Dieu Hospital, this museum tells the story of the foundation of Montreal and of the exceptional life of Jeanne Mance. Although not a member of the order, she led the work of cloistered nuns who tended the sick in early Montreal beginning in 1644.
Address:
201 Avenue des Pins Ouest
Montreal, Quebec H2W 1R5 Canada
Telephone: 514-849-2919
Website: Musee des Hospitalieres de l'Hotel-Dieu de MontrealNursing History Resource Centre
The Nursing History Resource Centre was established in July 1992 through the initial support of the Nurses Association of New Brunswick. The Centre, custodian for New Brunswick nursing's past, has an exhibit area that holds display cases with pin and cap collections, nursing tools, medical artifacts, pictures and uniformed mannequins. An adjoining archives holds collections of nursing books, scrapbooks, audiovisual artifacts, catalogued pictures and primary and secondary source documents, etc.
Nurses Association of New Brunswick
165 Regent Street
Fredericton, N. B. Canada E3B 7B4
Telephone: 506-458-8731; Fax:506-459-2838
Website: Nursing History Resource Centre
International
ARCHON
ARCHON Directory includes contact details for record repositories in the United Kingdom.
Archives Hub
A national gateway to descriptions of archives in UK universities and colleges.
RAAM
Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts.
New Zealand National Register of Archives and Manuscripts
NRAMUNESCO Archives Portal
An international gateway to information for archivists and archives users.EAN
EAN: European Archival Network
The British Library
A significant collection of Florence Nightingale letters are housed here [as well as in the Wellcome Library].
The British Library
St Pancras,
96 Euston Road,
London, NW1 2DB Website: Nightingale Letters at British LibraryDanish Museum of Nursing History
The museum is housed in a former sanitorium for children with tuberculosis. A library and an archive are also housed here.
Fjordevej 152
Strandhuse, 6000 Kolding
E-mail Museum
Website: Danish Museum of Nursing History
European Archives
The collection of millions of primary documents dating from the 1950's and formerly housed in the EU embassy in Washington, DC is the only complete EU Archives/Library besides the one in Brussels. While many European institutions have partial holdings any scholar working in the post-1960 period in history of medicine/science who wants access to the complete EU archives/library has to either come to Pittsburgh for total open access or go to Brussels and fight their way through the complex EU institutional bureaucracy. The contact person for access to the EU Archives at the U. of Pittsburgh is Dr. Phil Wilkin who can be reached at pwilkin@pitt.edu. Information on available housing near the university can be gotten by contacting John Erlen, Ph.D. at erlen@pitt.edu or 412-6488927.Florence Nightingale Museum Trust
2 Lambeth Palace Road,
London SE1, 7EW UK
Telephone: 00 44 20 7620 0374 Fax: 00 44 171 928 1760
E-mail Curator@florence-nightingale.co.uk
Website: Florence Nightingale Museum Trust
Hilde-Steppe-Archive Documentation Centre for Nursing
Located in Frankfurt Germany, The Documentation Centre started with the personal collection of Hilde Steppe. While the current focus is nursing during the Nazi era, it is hoped that it will be possible in the future to expand the collection of the Centre to include other important aspects of German and European nursing history.
Mailing address:
Fachhochschule Frankfurt am Main
Dokumentationsstelle Pflege / Hilde-Steppe-Archive
Nibelungenplatz 1
60318 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
Hilda Steppe ArchiveInstitute for the History of Medicine of the Robert Bosch
In 1994, the Robert Bosch Foundation launched a grant program for projects on the history of nursing. Since then nursing history has become one of the main research fields of the Institute for the History of Medicine (), complementing the two other areas of research, i.e. social history of medicine and history of homeopathy. Currently there are three Ph.D. students working on the history of nursing. The Institute organises national and international congresses and workshops. I t also keeps enlarging its research library by buying books on nursing history. The Institute cooperates with the Ruhr University of Bochum in collecting nursing history sources from the German speaking countries.
Straussweg 17
D-70188 Stuttgart, Germany
Stuttgart,Germany Robert Bosch FoundationThe Royal British Nurses' Association Archives
Minutes from 1887, membership records, other organization archives are housed at House at Kings College, Kings's College, The Strand, London, WC2R 2LS. To use the archives contact the RBNA:
Riverbank House Business Centre, Room 502
1 Putney Bridge Approach
London SW6 3JD
Website: Royal British Nurses' Association Archives
Royal College of Nursing, Scotland - Archives and Oral History Collection
The RCN Archives are a unique record of the development of the profession of nursing in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1916, the archives record its role as a professional organisation with international links, as an educational body providing the first post-registration courses for nurses in the UK, and as a trade union negotiating, lobbying and campaigning. The RCN Archives hold the records of other nursing organisations and of hundreds of individual nurses in its oral history collection. Hours are Monday-Friday 09.30-16.30 by appointment.
RCN ARCHIVES
42 South Oswald Road
Edinburgh, EH9 2HH, United Kingdom
E-mail: archives@rcn.org.uk
Website: RCN ArchivesUK Centre for the History of Nursing
The UK Centre for the History of Nursing is a joint venture between The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and Edinburgh's Queen Margaret University College (QMUC) that provides a focus for nursing history in Europe. Both RCN and QMUC have outstanding archive and educational resources that are the heart of the centre. Its task is to build awareness of the importance of nursing history through education and research.
Nurses and other students can take the country's first postgraduate diploma in history of nursing, developed specifically by QMUC, while students and researchers can visit the RCN's unique archive in Edinburgh. The website has links to archival material in the UK. The centre will lead UK-wide research activity through a network of universities and institutions led by Oxford Brookes University, and including the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine at the University of Glasgow.
Website: UK Centre for the History of Nursing
Wellcome Library
Collections of books, manuscripts, archives, films and pictures on the history of medicine from the earliest times to the present day. There is a significant collection of Nightingale material in this collection and a guide is available online: Guide to Nightingale Sources at Wellcome Library .
183 Euston Road
London NW1 2BE
Website: Wellcome Library
See also our feature on Travel Feature
Internet Resources for Nursing History
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