ISSN 1049-2259
Fall 2013, Vol. 25, No. 2
COVER STORY: Barbara Bates Papers now available to researchers see page 5
The Chronicle is the official publication of the Barbara Bates Center for The Study of The History of Nursing
2
The Chronicle - Penn Nursing Science
Barbara Bates Center for The Study of The History of Nursing
News from the Center
The Barbara Bates Center for The Study of The History of Nursing was established in 1985 to encourage and facilitate historical scholarship on healthcare history and nursing in the United States. Part of the Center’s mission is to maintain resources for research to improve the quality and scope of historical scholarship on nursing, and to disseminate new knowledge on nursing history through educational programs, conferences, publications, seminars and inter-disciplinary collaboration.
CENTER DIRECTOR RECEIVES 20 MILLION DOLLAR GRANT FROM ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION
Current projects at the Center include studies of the role of nurses in health care, the history of hospitals, the forces shaping child health care delivery, the nursing workforce and the construction of nurses’ personal and professional lives. The Center also continues to collect, process, and catalogue an outstanding collection of primary historical materials. Center Hours are Monday through Friday, 10:00 am to 4:00 PM. Scholars planning to conduct research at the Center should e-mail nhistory@nursing.upenn.edu or call 215-898-4502. Our Center staff will respond with a description of the scope and content of relevant materials in the various collections. Center Advisory Board Neville Strumpf, Chair Ellen D. Baer Susan Behrend Dorothy del Bueno Hannah Henderson Jeanne Kiefner Sandra Lewenson Joan Lynaugh Marian Matez Rosalyn Watts Gates Rhodes (consultant) Robert Aronowitz (consultant) Center Directors Julie Fairman, PhD, RN, FAAN, Director Barbra Mann Wall, PhD, RN, FAAN Associate Director Jean C. Whelan, PhD, RN, Assistant Director Joan E. Lynaugh, PhD, RN, FAAN, Director Emerita Center Fellows J. Margo Brooks-Carthon, PhD, CRNP Cynthia Connolly, PhD, RN, FAAN Patricia D’Antonio, PhD, RN, FAAN, Julie Solchaski, PhD, RN, FAAN, Ann Marie Walsh Brennan, PhD, RN Center Staff Jessica Clark, MA, Project Archivist Tiffany Collier, MA, Center Administrator Bethany Myers, MLIS, Archivist Donna Ostroff, Volunteer Cover Photo: Portrait of Barbara Bates, 2004. Artist: Barbara Katus.
T
he Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) announced a $20 million grant this June to create the Future of Nursing Scholars program. The program, co-directed by our very own Center Director Dr. Julie Fairman, supports PhD seeking nursing students. The program will provide financial, academic, and research support to these candidates. The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing will serve as the Future of Nursing Scholars program’s Center Director national program office. Julie Fairman, PhD, RN, FAAN The first of the program’s students will begin their PhD studies in 2015, with schools of nursing across the nation applying to join the program in 2014. The program hopes to sponsor up to 100 doctoral candidates within the first two years. Dr. Fairman, along with co-director Susan B. Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN, will work to increase the number of nurses in America who have doctorate degrees. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation reported that the “Institute of Medicine recommended that the country double the number of nurses with doctorates,” and the Future of Nursing Scholars hopes to make this a reality. In turn, this will support nursing science in America, as well as pave the way for future generations of nursing students to strive for, and hopefully achieve, higher levels of education. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is already developing plans to extend the program’s reach, primarily by engaging top donors such as the Independence Blue Cross Foundation. President of the Independent Blue Cross Foundation, Lorina Marshall-Blake, released a statement indicating that the organization was “proud to be the first...to join this new collaborative, which is bringing together diverse funders to support the PhDprepared nurse leaders the country needs.” The Bates Center congratulates Dr. Fairman on her grant and wishes her the best with the development of the Future of Nursing Scholars program.
CENTER FACULTY HONORED AT 2013 PENN NURSING SCIENCE FACULTY AND ALUMNI AWARDS EVENT
C
ongratulations are in order for Center Associate and Assistant Directors Drs. Barbra Mann Wall and Jean C. Whelan, who both received prestigious awards during the 2013 Penn Nursing Science Faculty and Alumni Awards event, held in the Ann L. Roy Auditorium on May 10th. The annual event highlights Penn Nursing Faculty members and key alumni who have contributed in numerous ways to excellence in scholarship, clinical work, and overall advancement of the school’s mission and goals. Center Associate Director Dr. Barbra Mann Wall was one of the 2013 recipients of the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching. The Lindback Award is handed out annually to standing faculty members of the University
Center Associate Director Barbra Mann Wall, PhD, RN, FAAN (L) and Penn Nursing Science Dean Afaf Meleis (R) photo credit: George Bilyk
continued on next page
Fall 2013
of Pennsylvania. Dr. Wall’s other recent honors include an appointment to the Evan C. Thompson Endowed Term Chair of Excellence in Teaching from the University of Pennsylvania in addition to receiving the Trustees Council of Penn Women’s 25th Anniversary Award for Mentoring. Center Assistant Director Jean C. Whelan (GR’00, GR’02) was the 2013 recipient of the Alumni Legacy Award from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. This award acknowledges alumni who have contributed greatly to Penn Nursing and has previously been awarded to other distinguished Center faculty such as Drs. Julie Fairman, Patricia D’Antonio, and Cynthia Connolly.
Dr. Jean Whelan received the University of Pennsylvania Provost’s Excellence through Diversity Grant for 2013-2014.
Randolph International Nursing History Conference, University of Virginia School of Nursing, March, 2013, Atlanta, Georgia.
PUBLICATIONS
D’Antonio, P. Speaker at the Columbia University School of Public Health, April, 2013, New York, NY.
D’Antonio, P. (2013) Cultivating Constituencies: The Story of the East Harlem Nursing and Health Service, 19281941. American Journal of Public Health, 103(6), 988-996. D’Antonio, P., Fairman, J., & Whelan, J.C. (2013). Routledge’s Handbook on the Global History of Nursing. London: Routledge Press. Gilman, D.J. & Fairman, J. (2013). Antitrust and the Future of Nursing: Federal Competition Policy and Scope of Practice. Health Matrix: Journal of Law-Medicine (24). 1-64.
Center Assistant Director Jean Whelan, PhD, RN (L) and Penn Nursing Science Dean Afaf Meleis (R) photo credit: George Bilyk
AWARDS Center Administrator Tiffany H. Collier, received the Penn Nursing 2013 Innovation Award during the Staff Appreciation Partners in Excellence ceremony. The award was presented by Vice Dean for Finance and Administration Patrick M. Burke.
GRANTS Bates Center Doctoral Student Amanda L. Mahoney received a Jonas Scholar grant for 2012-2014. Bates Center Doctoral Student Briana Ralston received the 2013 AAHN H-31 Pre-doctoral research grant.
3
Wall, B.M. (2012). American Catholic nursing: An historical analysis. Medizinihistorisches Journal (Medicine and the Life Science in History), Band 47, Booklet 2&3, 160-175. Wall, B.M. (2013). Beyond the imperial narrative: Catholic missionary nursing, medicine, and knowledge translation in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1945-1980. In E. Fleischmann, et al (Eds.), Transnational and Historical Perspectives on Global Health, Welfare and Humanitarianism. Kristiansand, Norway: Portal Forlag Publishers.
PRESENTATIONS Connolly, C. “Mother: Here’s the Aspirin Tablet that ‘Fits’ Your Child’s Needs: Children and Aspirin Therapy in the Postwar Era.” Speaker at the American Association for the History of Medicine, May, 2013, Atlanta, Georgia. Connolly, C. “New Challenges, Old Dilemmas: Sulfonamides and Children’s Health Care Delivery in the United States, 1936-1949.” Speaker at the Agnes Dillon
D’Antonio, P. “Lessons Learned?: Health Demonstration Projects in New York City, 1920-1935.” Sophie and Alex Rosner Seminar, Columbia University, April, 2013, New York, NY. D’Antonio, P. “Historicizing Body Work in Nursing: Continuities and Discontinuities Across Time and Place.” Keynote speaker at In the Spirit of Nightingale: The Care of Work and Body Work, McGill university, May, 2013, Montreal, Canada. D’Antonio, P. & Fairman, J. “New Directions for the Global History of Nursing.” Speaker at the Agnes Dillon Randolph International Nursing History Conference, University of Virginia School of Nursing, March, 2013, Charlottesville, VA. Fairman, J. “Nurse Residencies and the IOM Report Progress.” Speaker at the Institute of Pediatric Nurses, April, 2013, Washington, D.C. Wall, B.M. “Disasters, Nursing, and Community Responses: A Historical Perspective.” Invited Hannah lecturer at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2013, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Wall, B.M. “On the Shoulders of Giants: Nursing History.” Invited speaker at the ICN 25th Quadrennial Congress, 2013, Melbourne, Australia. Whelan, J.C. “Digital Nurses: Digitizing the Quintessential Women’s Profession.” Women’s History in the Digital World Conference, March, 2013, Bryn Mawr, PA. continued on next page
4
The Chronicle - Penn Nursing Science
APPOINTMENTS AND OTHER NEWS Dr. Patricia D’Antonio was appointed to be the 2013 external reviewer for the Eleanor Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry at the University of Virginia. Dr. Patricia D’Antonio was appointed as a member of a doctoral dissertation committee overseeing Su Kyung Kim’s work on her dissertation “Korean Community Support for Abused Korean Immigrant Women.”
KUDOS TO... Special thanks to Center work study students Amy Kuan and Christine Rohaly for their hard and diligent work. Amy spent this summer digitizing and adding metadata to several photograph collections to make them more accessible to researchers and students. Christine processed hundreds of book donations using the Center’s new book database. The inventory will aid in our extensive cataloguing efforts. In addition the inventory will ensure that our special collections are accessible through the Penn Libraries system. Amy completed her work and Christine will continue assisting with the book processing project.
PGH Class of 1963 Celebrate 50 Year Reunion
T
his summer, the Bates Center hosted members of the Philadelphia General Hospital (PGH) School of Nursing Class of 1963 who were in town to celebrate their 50th class reunion. The sixteen guests were excited to relive their days at ‘Old Blockley’ through a customized exhibit of materials and artifacts which included the uniform of the first Chief Nurse and revered leader of the PGH School, Alice Fisher, as well as photos, and other documents which chronicle the rich history of the school. The alumni were fascinated and excited to view the school’s doll collection, which provided a glimpse into the evolution of the nursing profession’s uniforms and caps. Center Administrator Tiffany Collier gave a brief presentation on the Center’s recently launched photo website for the PGH School of Nursing archive, which is in collaboration with the University’s Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text and Imaging. In her remarks, Tiffany noted that many of the items in the collection came to the Center thanks to vigilant alumni who made sure that the archival materials were not discarded when the school closed. The alumni truly appreciated the opportunity to see the ways in which their school was remembered. In addition, several alumni donated additional archival materials to be included in the PGH School of Nursing collection. Tiffany, along with the Center’s new archivist Bethany Myers, then provided tours of the Center’s facility, culminating with the unveiling of our new exhibit wall dedicated to the school’s photo collection. The Center is thankful to PGH alumnus Carole Somers for her assistance with facilitating the reunion and visit and we look forward to continuing events with this and other alumni groups for schools which the Center holds collections.
Fall 2013
5
T
here is a famous quote by Sir William Osler, “listen to your patient, he is telling you the diagnosis.” This saying has shaped modern medicine in a monumental way because it illustrates the importance of history taking in diagnosing and treating patients. This fall, thousands of budding healthcare practitioners will begin work towards careers in healthcare. For many of these students, there will be a publication that will be in their backpack or on their e-readers and smartphones that will prove to be an invaluable reference and guide as they begin interactions with patients outside of the classroom. The nearly 40 year-old book, entitled Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking, is now in its 11th edition and bears the name of its original author, Dr. Barbara Bates, a woman who has left an indelible mark on healthcare. In this edition of The Chronicle, we take a look at the life and legacy of Bates as revealed through her personal papers, which were recently processed and made accessible to researchers. These papers provide fertile ground for intensive study on the evolution of the nurse practitioner movement, as well as look into the social history of the tuberculosis epidemic. More importantly, these papers provide a full overview of the personal and professional lives of Barbara Bates, and the fascinating intersections of those two spheres. Her story, like many others, shows how Osler’s words ring true today.
In archival processing, there is an overriding principle that shapes all of the work. This principle is called respect des fonds, and it can be broadly defined as an Archivist adhering to the original order of collection. In many instances, respect des fonds becomes problematic because the papers of individuals and organizations will lose their organic structure through the years, to the point where the Archivist is charged with recreating a logical order that is unfortunately lost in many ways. Another way of looking at this would be to imagine a ladder which is conspicuously missing steps along the way. A person could certainly walk the ladder from top to bottom, but it would be all the more difficult. This is what an artificially rearranged archival collection is like. The Bates collection is somewhat unique in that the order is remarkably preserved, with every rung or step of her life meticulously placed. Indeed, when it was received in the winter of 2009 for preliminary processing by Center Volunteer Donna Ostroff, the collection stood apart from many received because of its “balanced” organization. According to Ostroff, this balance in the Bates Collection will be beneficial to researchers who study this collection. The organization of the Bates Collection also proved to be advantageous to Center Archivist Jessica Clark as she began processing the papers for research use. For Archivists like Clark, processing is an arduous task of piecing together an organized whole from often disparate elements. It is often the case that these elements can be, by often well intentioned people, haphazardly cobbled together leaving the original order lost forever. When processing collections, Clark usually begins with the macro view then works step by step through each smaller part to recreate the logical organization found within the entire collection. However, with the Bates papers, Clark felt that all of the pieces fell into place from the beginning, giving her a sense of enjoyment in the preparatory stages. Clark noted that Barbara Bates “was so detailed in her note taking, whether it was notes for her manuscripts, or recipes, even her pets had detailed records and classifications. Certainly it made my job a lot easier.” As researchers will discover, Bates’ skills in capturing key details of every part of her life set this collection apart from many others at the Center. The first place in the collections that we see Barbara Bates’ expert note-taking skills on display is during a 1949 summer trip across Europe following her undergraduate studies at Smith College. In her trip diary, Bates captures the sights, sounds and smells of everything she encounters. Of her journey aboard the famed R.M.S. Samaria, she wrote of feeling “divorced from either side of the ocean in atmosphere and time.” She relished the role of tourist, a trait that would follow her throughout her life. For instance, in 1975 Bates set off for a cross-country trip with her life-long companion Joan Lynaugh. The trip was compiled into a lengthy travel log which was then transcribed by her sister Clare Fanshaw Marshall and mailed to an assortment of their close friends and family with separate issue dates. Think of the correspondence, if you will, as a prototypical blog, complete with photos and different anecdotes from life on the road in the continued on page 11
6
The Chronicle - Penn Nursing Science
2013 Bates center fellowships awarded The Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing is pleased to announce this year’s fellowship recipients Lillian Sholtis Brunner Fellowship for Historical Research in Nursing Amanda L. Mahoney: Ready and Waiting: OSRD Burn Research in U.S. Hospitals, ca. 1940-1945
Alice Fisher Society Fellowship for Historical Research in Nursing Bárbara Barrionuevo Bonini: Participation of American nurses in the Brazilian Nursing Professionalization
Kathleen Nishida: St. Luke’s College of Tokyo, Japan: The Interface of a Foreign Mission Project, an American Philanthropy, and the Development of Nursing in Japan,1920-1940
Karen Buhler-Wilkerson Fellowship for Historical Research in Nursing Manuel Jesús García Martínez & Antonio Claret García Martínez: Written sources for the History of Nursing: Spanish Legacy from Mexico to Florida and Louisiana (16th-19th centuries)
Katharine Smith:The Greatest Potential Force for Reform: The Vassar Nurse Training Camp, 1918
Chestnut Hill Hospital School of Nursing Graduating Class, 1923
2012 Lillian brunner fellow Profile By Susan Armstrong Reid
A
T
s a nursing historian with roots deep in international hishe Bates Center gives tory, it was a delight to have been selected as the 2012 Lillian Sholtis-Brunner Fellow at the Barbara Bates s c h o l a r s w e l c o m i n g Center. Known for its encouragement of innovative cross-disciplinary s p a c e t o e n g a g e i n scholarship, and thought provoking transnational conversations, the Bates Center has long recognized the intellectual edges that scholars reflective discourse and must continue to cross in order to de-center and authorize the margins utilize faculty insight on which galvanize nursing scholarship around the world. During this visit, I experienced a warm hospitality that I hope to reciprocate in the global nursing historical Susan Armstrong Reid future. This hospitality afforded me the luxury of a space to engage with research. scholars in reflective discussion at a particularly opportune moment in the development of my current research project on the Friends Ambulance Unit in China, (FAU). Nursing provides a critical lens in my work, The China Gadabouts: The new frontiers of humanitarianism, 1941-1951, to examine the transformation of this Quaker sponsored organization’s humanitarian work in war-torn China. My time in the Philadelphia area allowed me to visit several local repositories and archives that aided in my research. In addition, I was able to mine the International Council of Nurses’ (ICN) files located at the Bates Center to track down some of the Chinese FAU nurses who fled Maoist China. The ICN refugee files provide a rare glimpse into the important contribution of both male and female Chinese nursing staff to the China Convoy’s humanitarian efforts. As important as these research opportunities were, I also enjoyed lively conversations with faculty mentors Dr. Julie Fairman and Dr. Barbra Mann Wall. In addition, I enjoyed participating in the Bates Center seminar series as a speaker, which was accessible to the wider scholarly community via webcast and facilitated by Dr. Jean C. Whelan. These interactions provided critical opportunities to preview and obtain constructive feedback on the themes and interdisciplinary methodology underpinning my manuscript. My time at the Barbara Bates Center confirmed my belief that good global nursing history requires a cross-disciplinary approach to critically interrogate the rich diversity and complexity of nursing’s past role beyond the nation state. In undertaking this study, I seek to continue exploring more nuanced critical transnational frames that better illuminate the complexities of nursing’s important but understudied contribution to global health. Analyzing the China Convoy nurses’ humanitarian work mandated engaging with cutting edge international relations scholars including feminist international relations scholars who have begun to re-examine post-colonial critiques. These proved invaluable to examine the praxis of faith, race, class, and gender that shaped these nurses’ cross-cultural experiences over time and place within the context of historically shifting power relations and international alignments. I seek to use this case study to probe the ragged intellectual edges in both international relations scholarship and post-colonial approaches for understanding global nursing past and future challenges.
Fall 2013
7
2012 Karen buhler-wilkerson fellow profile By Jeannine Uribe
I
J
was honored to be the 2012 recipient of the Karen Buhleressie Scott’s papers give Wilkerson Fellowship for Historical Research in Nursing from the Bates Center. Dr. Buhler-Wilkerson was a tremendous a glimpse into nursing’s mentor to me during my doctoral studies in nursing history, and her impact on the United extensive research in public health nursing inspired many new ideas for my research work. I focused my research on the papers of Jessie States Public Health M. Scott, the Deputy Chief of the Division of Nursing Resources in Service in the 20th century. the United States Public Health Service (USPHS), which was the top federal nursing job in the 1960s. Specifically, my research was focused Jeannine Uribe on international partnerships between nurses, especially public health nursing activity, so Scott’s position with the USPHS drew my interest. Jessie M. Scott passed away October 20, 2009, and I am saddened to have missed the opportunity to interview her. Scott’s professional influence on nursing in Pennsylvania and all over the United States was phenomenal. During her tenure as the director of the Division of Nursing, Scott executed the federally funded Nurse Training Act of 1964, which established funding for expanding nursing education related to nurse manpower needs for the United States. She directed the distribution of 100 million federal dollars to aid nurses over three years. Scott’s eventful life provided fertile ground to engage in research. For instance, during her impressive government tenure, Scott was invited by the Indian government to study the many aspects of nursing in India. The goal was for Scott to assist in solving issues of education, shortages, and recruitment. This trip to India became the focus of my study at the Bates Center. Scott’s papers include official government printings of literature pertaining to her position in the USPHS and also to the Technical Cooperation Mission (TCM) to India, the official US government sponsor of her trip. Scott compiled pamphlets on the ambassador’s stance on their presence in India, how to find housing, how to prevent infectious diseases and how to hire a house servant. Understanding this background information augmented my understanding of Scott’s feelings during her travels, which she expressed in a letter to her staff in the United States. Housed under the Department of State, the TCM had non-military security goals, which led to further research at the National Archives to further investigate the International Cooperation Administration, the predecessor of USAID. Scott’s papers sparked my interest in Cold War Era US relations with India, and how international projects developed during the early formation of the World Health Organization, which was the newly designated leader of global health. continued on page 8
ann marie walsh brennan named center faculty fellow
T
he Center was pleased to welcome back one of its former doctoral students, Ann Marie Walsh Brennan, as its newest faculty fellow. Walsh Brennan is a Penn Nursing Practice Associate Professor with training in qualitative and historical research. She is currently overseeing the implementation of the new curriculum at the School of Nursing which is entering its third year. This curriculum aims to integrate science and practice. The responsibilities of this position include assisting with planning individual courses, monitoring classes to ensure that as implementation proceeds the faculty are doing what the curricular plan directs, and keeping the historic memory of what has occurred in the process. Her recent writing has focused on curricular issues and includes an article with Center Fellow Patricia D’Antonio and Martha Curley on the process that our School of Nursing went through to devise the new curriculum. She has also recently worked with Eileen Sullivan-Marx on writing about how the new curriculum prepares undergraduate students for primary care roles, and with Jane Barnsteiner, Valerie Cotter and Mary Lou de Leon Siantz on a piece which identifies LGBTI health concerns pertinent to Barbra Mann Wall (L) and Ann Marie Walsh Brennan (R) photo nursing curricula. In addition, she was featured along with other School of Nursing faculty in a series credit: George Bilyk of videos produced by Patricia Benner, a renowned nurse scholar and educator. She is an active member of the School community serving on the undergraduate curriculum committee, chairing the course directors group, and recently serving on the planning committee for the Biobehavioral Health Sciences department retreat. Walsh Brennan currently teaches one of the required junior year clinical courses – “Nursing Young and Middle Aged Adults” – with its new and improved curriculum debuting fall 2013.
8
The Chronicle - Penn Nursing Science
Uribe profile, continued During her three month stay, Scott traveled across India on weekends and spent the week in a city meeting with health officials, nursing instructors, and nurse administrators. She organized the nurses to do a work study, teaching observers to count the types of activities nurses did on a hospital floor for five days. In each state, she collected population data and compared ratios of nurses to citizens. She calculated replacement rates for nurses per beds in hospitals and assembled student data such as graduation rates compared to pass rates. Scott’s meticulous notes gave me insight into her administrative aptitude and her use of statistics. She gathered raw data and hand formulated tables and charts to support her points to address nursing educational needs and numbers in India and in the United States. I spent approximately ten days at the archive, split between teaching and vacation time, and presented in January 2013 as part of the Bates Center seminar series. Feedback during that presentation helped to raise further questions to investigate about Indian nursing in the 1960s, the United States political agenda in India, and Scott’s promotion of the nursing research agenda. My work will be presented at the American Association of the History of Nursing’s conference in September 2013.
2012 Karen buhler-wilkerson fellow profile By Antonia M. Villarruel and Barbara Brush
W
ith generous support from a Karen BuhlerWilkerson Fellowship award, and using the Center’s newly acquired Ildaura Murillo-Rohde Papers (1930-2005), we explored the rich professional life of this prominent Hispanic nurse leader and founder of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN). We viewed our research at the Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing as particularly timely given the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Antonia M. Villarruel Change, Advancing Health, and its broad endorsement of nurse leaders as “thoughtful strategists” in the nation’s efforts to improve health care. Highlighting Murillo-Rohde’s career as a nurse educator, author, therapist, and activist thus provided not only a case study of nurse leadership, but illuminated many of the challenges faced by racial-ethnic minorities within nursing. Barbara Brush Funding to complete processing of the Murillo-Rohde papers has unfortunately not yet been received, however the preliminary inventory provided an excellent guide for our data collection. The holdings included an assortment of papers and presentations, journal articles and NAHN correspondence, along with personal mementos, letters, pictures, awards, and many other items. Piecing together Murillo-Rohde’s life story, therefore, was much like solving a puzzle without a guiding picture. When the picture did emerge, we uncovered a story that differed from that which we thought we would tell. We presented our initial findings at a Bates Center seminar on March 20, 2013. Murillo-Rohde’s pathway to nursing can be credited to the advent of World War II, when, eager to help the war effort, she relocated to San Antonio, Texas to enroll as a Cadet Nurse in Baptist Memorial Hospital’s School of Nursing. Murillo-Rohde then entered Teachers College at Columbia University (TC) at its first Hispanic student, and was placed in Hildegard Peplau’s second class of students in the psychiatric nursing program. Peplau remained a key mentor in Murillo-Rohde’s life throughout her career. continued on page 10
New Book
Køn, Kald & Kompetencer by Susanne M. Dietz 150 years ago, Queen Louise of Denmark founded the Danish Deaconess Foundation outside Copenhagen. In Smallegade (Narrow Gate) in Frederiksberg, a modest motherhouse and hospital was inaugurated, and the deaconesses began to flock to the place. Ten years later, the deaconesses moved to the familiar red buildings at Peter Bangs Vej (Peter Bang’s Road). Within the walls of this monastery-like building complex, 1,769 deaconesses and in recent years 77 male and female deacons have worked over the last 150 years. Their efforts have been very important for the creation of today’s caring professions in the Danish welfare state. Who were these deaconesses? Which social and educational background did they have? What drove them? What did they accomplish? The book answers these questions under three perspectives: Gender, Vocation & Professional Competencies. Gender, because Evangelical Lutheran deaconesses, like the Roman Catholic nuns, built a strong hierarchical female community where the collective took precedence over the individual. Vocation, because the religious dimension was of great importance for the work of the deaconesses. And professional competencies, because education in nursing and social work for the first time was considered a prerequisite for working with the sick and socially disadvantaged. Gender, Vocation & Professional Competences is the first scientific description of all the women who have passed the door to the Danish Deaconess Foundation to execute their vocation to become a deaconess. It is also the story of the origins of the nursing profession, as well as the private philanthropy, which was replaced by today’s welfare institutions.
Fall 2013
9
Nursing ‘beyond borders’
T
Dr. Karen Flynn during her presentation on her book Moving Beyond Borders
his March, the Center was pleased to welcome back 2006 Lillian Brunner Fellow Karen Flynn (Associate Professor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) for a lively and thought-provoking discussion on her current research, which focuses on Caribbean migrant and Black Canadian born women during the post-World War II era. The event, which was co-sponsored by Penn Nursing’s Office of Diversity and Cultural Affairs, also served as a booksigning for her most recent publication, Moving Beyond Borders: A History of Black Canadian and Caribbean Women in the Diaspora (University of Toronto Press, 2011). Flynn’s work is the first book-length history of Black healthcare workers in Canada, and it focuses spe-
to position notions of race, national, and ethnic identities within the discussion. By integrating race within theories of gender performance, Flynn explored how Black Caribbean and Canadian students engaged in gender performance in nursing as a way to mediate and manage the contested terrain of nurse training where ideas about whiteness, womanhood, and femininity underpinned its very core. Flynn also discussed how Moving Beyond Borders interweaves oral histories with archival sources to show how these women’s lives were shaped by their experiences of migration, professional training, and family life. At the reception following Flynn’s book signing, she noted to guests that it was an “honor to return” to the Bates Center to present the culmination of the research she first introduced as a Brunner Fellow. Bolstered by the enthusiastic response to Flynn’s discussion, the Center is now planning additional events and talks that will highlight the diversity of the nursing profession to a broader audience.
cifically on how Black Caribbean and Canadian “women’s multiple subjectivities and identities” are forged in childhood and shaped through transitional roles within diasporic spaces (4). Flynn’s presentation, entitled “Ain’t I a Nurse: Black Nurses and Gender Performance,” built upon her work in Moving Beyond Borders to delve deeper into the ways in which the performative aspects of race can be illuminated through comparative analysis related to gender. Using Butlerian theory of gender performativity, Flynn worked Drs. Julie Fairman (L) and Karen Flynn (R)
10
The Chronicle - Penn Nursing Science
T
linda maldonado successfully defends dissertation
his summer, Bates Center doctoral student Linda Maldonado successfully defended her dissertation “Midwives’ Collaborative Activism in Two U.S. Cities, 1970-1990”. Linda’s dissertation work focused on infant mortality within the Black community in the United States, which has been a persistent issue in spite of advancing medical technologies and medical models of birth. Longitudinal studies before the mid1990s historically linked poverty to infant mortality as the dominant factor. Refusing to accept poverty as a major determinant of infant mortality within marginalized populations of women, nurses and nurse midwives during the 1970s through 1990 collaborated with social workers, community activists, physicians, and public health workers to assist in the empowerment of affected communities. Linda’s study examined the importance of little-known individuals in both Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. whose ideas and practices exemplified what is valued in nursing and midwifery. Linda’s work stemmed primarily from her interests in the differences and relation-
Barbra Mann Wall (L) and Linda Maldonado (R)
ships between the medical and midwifery models of birth. As an obstetric nurse for over twenty years, she was also interested in the role that race and class played in the birth process. Eventually, she chose to study how nurse midwives in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. negotiated care with minority, low-income communities of women during the 1960s through the 1980s. During her time at the Center, Linda has shown enthusiasm for nursing history and scholarship. Linda’s program advisor, Center Associate Director Dr. Barbra Mann Wall, has stated that she is proud of Linda’s
accomplishments. Linda herself has noted that she has been “very lucky to have taken so many great courses [at Penn] that have enabled [her] to add insight into [her] area of research”, resulting in an expansion of her understanding of the history of midwives in a post-civil rights context. Even though Linda has completed her doctoral studies, she will not be going far. Linda has begun a T 32, Vulnerable Women, Children, and Families Post-Doctoral training Program through Penn Nursing’s Center for Global Women’s Health. We are happy to report that Linda will continue to be a welcome presence at the Center.
Linda Maldonado (center) and the dissertation committee
Villarruel and Brush profile, continued Murillo-Rohde’s career as both a nurse and scholar was quite expansive. For instance, she worked at Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital, and would go on to open the first Psychiatric Division at Elmhurst General Hospital in Queens, NY. In addition, she was the Chief Nurse for the country’s first voluntary narcotic service at Metropolitan Hospital, located in New York City. One of the five founding members of the Family Therapy Study Unit at Metropolitan Hospital, she also maintained a private family therapy practice counseling married couples. She completed her PhD at New York University, again as the school’s first Hispanic doctoral student, examining mother-son relationships in Puerto Rican families. Murillo-Rohde was an active member of the American Nurses Association (ANA) and a lifelong advocate for increasing nursing’s pool of racial-ethnic minorities. As a member of the ANA’s Affirmative Action Task Force, she first convened a group of Hispanic nurse members at the 1974 ANA annual convention to create the Spanish Speaking/Spanish Surnamed Nurses Caucus. As the group’s appointed chairperson, she campaigned vigorously to include its members in the ANA’s administrative structure. After two years without success, the group reorganized into the National Association of Spanish-Speaking Spanish-Surnamed Nurses, elected Murillo-Rohde as its first President, and joined the National Coalition of Hispanic Mental Health and Human Service Organizations (COSSMHO). Renamed the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) to focus membership on Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, and Central and South American nurses, the NAHN held its first biennial meeting in 1979. Among other significant milestones in Murillo-Rodhe’s life was her appointment to the National Advisory Committee to the White House Conference on Families and her nomination to chairwomen of COSSMHO in 1979, which then comprised over 200 community organizations, five national organizations, and many hundred individuals. She also served as the Dean of Nursing at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn and was a member of the ANA’s Cabinet on Human Rights. Throughout it all, Murillo-Rohde maintained her clinical practice as a Board certified sexologist. Her national prominence, reputation for generating change, and busy schedule of speaking engagements earned her the title “a Hispanic whirlwind.” Murillo-Rohde was a tireless champion for diversity, change, and inclusion and led those efforts across many roles. The Center holdings, with supplementation from oral histories and other sources, provide an important data source for one of nursing’s key leaders.
Fall 2013
Cover story, continued “Bigwig,” which was their affectionate moniker for the ’75 Oldsmobile station wagon that hitched a 24 foot airstream trailer. That trailer, nicknamed “Toad Hall” after the famous character from Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, was home as Bates and Lynaugh logged an impressive 41,550 miles across the country for more than a year leading up to settling in Kansas where Bates would serve as Professor and Senior Docent at the School of Medicine at the University of Missouri Kansas City. Of the trip, she noted that “there is always somewhere to go in this country, and a lifetime will not be enough to experience it all.” In addition, Bates noted that she and Lynaugh shared “two reinforcing weaknesses in common” which were a love of food and procrastination when it came to writing, although a look at both of their prolific CV’s would be an argument against the latter point. On this and other trips detailed in
the collection, Bates recalls that she and Lynaugh shared an “addiction for reading” and valued the solitary moments of life on the road where long periods of time could be set aside to consume book after book. The two also had the commonality of a deep, overriding passion for reading and studying history; as both went on to earn degrees from the University of Kansas on the subject. The personal and professional intersections in the lives of Barbara Bates and Joan Lynaugh make up a significant portion of this collection. As Jessica Clark, who also processed the Lynaugh papers in 2012, has noted “the two collections are so linked contextually; I don’t see how anyone could research one without delving into the other in some way.” One example of Bates and Lynaugh’s collective work can be found in their advocacy of the nurse practitioner movement. To both of them, the physician-nurse relationship was dyadic in
11
its function and strengthened through an intimate knowing of the other. Educating nurses in advanced practice care was critical to sharpening the distinct, yet interconnected roles of doctor and nurse. Both Bates and Lynaugh displayed passionate advocacy for the role of the nurse practitioner, even while the role was in its earliest days of being defined. “The two of them literally traveled the country, telling anyone who would listen” about the profession in those early days, according to Center Director Julie Fairman, who wrote about much of their work in her 2008 publication Making Room in the Clinic. The Bates Collection “represents an invaluable resource to anyone studying the role of the nurse practitioner and the broadening of the scope of practice of the nursing profession in general,” states Fairman. Indeed, many of the papers and presentations on nurse practitioners and continued on page 12
nursing history gets ‘social’
R
ecently, the Bates Center expanded its social media presence as a way of promoting our unique resources and nursing history as a whole. By now, you should be familiar with our main Center website, as well as our two special project sites: the Philadelphia General Hospital Photo Collection website, and the Nursing, History and Healthcare website. However, did you know that the Center has a popular Facebook page? One new feature of the Facebook page is the “Friday Photo,” which highlights not only some of the hidden gems within the archival collections, but also new collections which are being processed and organized. The Friday Photo also gives a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes work that goes into preserving nursing’s future. For instance, one recent feature included a day in the life of archivist Jessica Clark as she completed processing the papers of Jeanne Quint Benoliel. The Bates Center has also established itself on Pinterest, a social media website which allows users to “pin” interesting photos , videos, and other items from the web, onto virtual bulletin boards. The site has proven to be a natural fit for the Center as a way to present new digitized collections, as well as present online exhibits on these collections and other themes. One of the Center’s most popular boards is titled “Call the Midwife,” and was curated by Center work study student Elisa Stroh. The board provides a global retrospective on midwifery in all of its various forms. Stroh, a Penn senior whose academic background is in Urban Studies, has enjoyed her work on compiling the Pinterest boards with Center Administrator Tiffany Collier because they have exposed her to nursing’s history in a new and exciting way. “There is so much content out there, and it is great to share the Center’s resources with people globally,” Elisa has said. The Center is planning future boards that highlight Penn Nursing and the role of the nurse in artistic works. The Center hopes to utilize the tools presented through social media in new and innovative ways to expand the reach of nursing history, and you can help! The Center is always looking for interesting content to share through our social media channels, so please contact us with any recommendations.
12
The Chronicle - Penn Nursing Science
Cover story, continued the collaborative work between nurses and doctors in patient care used in the 60’s and 70’s can be found in the Bates Collection. This work and advocacy for nurse practitioners continued in the 80’s when both Bates and Lynaugh began teaching at Penn Nursing. Barbara Bates’ role as a teacher was a significant part of her professional life. Before joining Penn Nursing, Bates already had a prolific teaching career at many institutions including Cornell University Medical College, which was where she had a two year tuberculosis residency. After Cornell, Bates worked in private practice. She returned to teaching, first at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and then the University of Rochester Schools of Nursing and Medicine, which is where she met Lynaugh. Many of her experiences in the classroom proved to be beneficial during the writing of her lauded Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking. According to Lynaugh, “we the students complained so much about the existing textbooks” that Bates felt compelled to do something about it. In the Bates Collection, there is comprehensive documentation on the writing, editing, and research that went into the creation of what many consider the definitive work on patient history taking and physical assessment. While working on the preliminary processing of the Bates papers, Donna Ostroff noted that her “favorite part of the collection was the design mock-up for the 1st edition” of the Guide to Physical Examination because it gives a behind-the-scenes look at pre-digital publishing and editing. The background on the Guide also shows how Bates used her love for birds and Roger Tory Peterson’s guides on Ornithology as an inspiration for the organization of the book. For Archivist Jessica Clark, another fascinating part of the Bates Collection is the section that focuses on the College of Physicians, particularly the Francis C. Wood Institute for the History of Medicine at the College of Physicians. Wood was an important figure in the Philadelphian medical community and was the former chair of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The Francis C. Wood institute was formed in 1976 to advance historical scholarship in medicine, and it provided a supportive
place for researchers through its extensive library and the journal Transactions and Studies. Bates was a respected and integral part of the College of Physicians, serving as both a fellow and also chair of the Section on Medical History for several years. In 1992, the Francis C. Wood Institute was restructured by the leadership of the College of Physicians. There were many, Bates chief among them, who believed that the changes at the Institute were made without adequate dialogue from the College’s fellows. Bates led an Ad Hoc Committee of Fellows which was created with the expressed mission to save the Francis C. Wood Institute. Much of the correspondence Barbara Bates during her time as an undergraduate at Smith College. related to the Ad Hoc Committee and its incidents to aid in a proper diagnosis. efforts to stop the restructuring of the The first mention of Alzheimer’s occurs institute are retained within the collection. around this time, and the documentation in the collection gives a fascinating, and Bates remained a fellow at the ultimately heartbreaking, glimpse into College of Physicians until 1997. A the swift progression of the disease. For year previously she had retired from her instance, in the series that documents the teaching career. According to Lynaugh, final years of Bates’ life there are several friend and Center co-founder Karen loose notebook pages and on them you see Buhler-Wilkerson remarked in hindsight where she attempts over and over again that Bates’ decision to retire appeared to successfully write her own name. The uncharacteristically “abrupt.” During the juxtaposition between these notes and the years that followed, Bates began to exhibit earlier, detailed ones by Bates is jarring signs of depression which were assumed to the senses because they illustrate the to be caused by her newfound retirement. all too real insidiousness of a disease However, during a 1999 trip to London that robs millions of their livelihoods and with Lynaugh, Buhler-Wilkerson, and precious memories. Neville Strumpf, it became clear that Bates was beginning to show the early For me, the correspondence and signs of acute memory loss. notes that detail the final years of Barbara Bates’ life are the most compelling part of It began with seemingly innocuous the entire collection. In an early edition forgetful moments that became more and of the Guide to Physical Examination and more frequent. Eventually, it became History Taking, Bates mentions an old necessary for Lynaugh to log these continued on page 15
Fall 2013
13
The Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing greatfully acknowledges all of its supporters for their generosity.
Donors June 30, 2012 - July 1, 2013 Dr. Linda H. Aiken Alumni Association of Albert Einstein Medical Center Mrs. Catherine B. Amato Lucille Musser Arking Mr. Henry P. Baer, Jr. Mrs. Ann D. Baiada Mr. J Mark Baiada Jack D. Barchas, MD Dr. Israel Bartal Dr. Nira Bartal Dr. Alice J. Baumgart Mrs. Julie S. Bazow Dr. Elizabeth M. Bear Ms. Rita T. Beatty Dr. Nettie Birnbach Mrs. Georgeanna M. Bittner Dr. Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Mrs. Marion Bryde Bogen Mrs. Frances Bordogna Dr. Joseph Bordogna Dr. Barbara Brodie Solomon & Sylvia Bronstein Foundation Mr. and Mrs. John C. Burnham Ms. Jane K. Campion Dr. Barbara Chamberlain Ms. Melodie K. Chenevert Ms. Pamela Frances Cipriano Ms. Marion L. Citta Mrs. Beryl Boardman Cleary Mrs. Linda Clougherty Mr. Timothy P. Clougherty Mrs. Elaine B. Clouser Mrs. Valerie Telford Cotter Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm F. Crawford Ms. Sarah T. Cunningham Joseph C. D’Antonio, MD
Dr. Patricia O. D’Antonio Mrs. Eleanor L. Davis Mr. Harold M. Davis Mrs. Jeanette J. Davis Dr. Katherine L. Dawley Dr. Dorothy J. del Bueno Dr. Lynore D. Desilets Dr. Doris S. Edwards Nurses’ Alumni Association of the Episcopal Hospital Dr. Jonathan Erlen Mr. Terry Feetham & Dr. Suzanne L. Feetham Stuart S. Felzer, MD Dr. M. Louise Fitzpatrick Dr. Marilyn E. Flood Ms. Cynthia M. Freund Dr. Barbara Gaines Gaines Family Charitable Gift Fund Mrs. Gale Garner Mr. William C. Garrow Dr. Carol P. Germain Dr. Mary Eckenrode Gibson Mark Gilbert, MD Ms. Carol L. Gross Ms. Mary S. Gutshall Ms. Ruth E. Hackman Ms. Donna E. Haney Dr. Laura Lucia Hayman Mr. Richard L. Hayman Mrs. Patricia A. Heffner Ms. Jane Hellberg Mrs. Beth Helwig Dr. Constance A. Holleran Ms. Christy Nye Hoover Mrs. Jeanne Harris Horn Mr. Vincent Hughes Ms. Karen Jacobs
Ms. Sarah G. Jordan Mrs. Gail Jurikson-Rhodes Mrs. Dorothy Goldstein Kapenstein Ms. Julie Karcis Mrs. Mary Ellen Kenworthey Dr. John C. Kirchgessner Dr. Mary Ann Krisman-Scott Mr. Glenn Lang Dr. Norma M. Lang Nurses’ Alumni Association at Lankenau Medical Center Mrs. Shirley B. Layfield Ms. Gloria Lee Charles E. Letocha, MD Mrs. Helene B. Kuritz Levy Mrs. Elizabeth P. Losa Mrs. Barbara Lund Dr. Diane J. Mancino Mrs. Barbara Barden Mason Mrs. Joan Daly Mason Mr. Jerome M. Matez Mrs. Marian Bronstein Matez Ms. Brenda Matter Dr. E. Ann Matter Mrs. Mary V. McDevitt Dr. Gloria J. McNeal Ms. Marie T. Meehan Dr. Adrian S. Melissinos Alumnae Association of MercyDouglass Hospital School of Nursing Mrs. Ann C. Motte Ms. Mary Alice Musser Mrs. Janneke Seton Neilson M r s . R o s e Wo y t o w i c h O’Driscoll Dr. John L. Parascandola Dr. Yvonne Paterson
Mrs. Annette E. Penniman Mr. Charles Penniman Mrs. Annette Marie Pettineo Dr. Robert V. Piemonte Dr. Elizabeth A. Reedy Mr. Gates Rhodes Mr. Theodore R. Robb Dr. Marianne T. Roncoli Milton D. Rossman, MD Miss Amy Louise Ruesch Dr. Cynthia C. Scalzi Ms. Mary L. Shea Dr. Suzanne C. Smeltzer Ms. Janet E. Smith Miss Nancy T. Snyder Mrs. Carole Bedecs Somers Dr. Milton M. Somers, Jr. Mrs. Edna R. Spangler Dr. Diane L. Spatz Mrs. Beverly Peril Stern Dr. Rosemary A. Stevens Mrs. Norma H. Stewart Robert J. Stewart, Esq. Ms. Jo F. Stow Ms. Jean I. Swindler Dr. Mary P. Tarbox Ms. Carlette S. Vance Ms. Jeanette Waits Dr. Ann Marie Walsh-Brennan Dr. Mary McCormack Walton Ms. Carol Elizabeth Ware Ms. Fay Weaver Ms. Ruth Fitzgerald Weeks Dr. Emma S. Weigley Dr. Jean C. Whelan Mrs. Billie Jane Wiest Mr. James Wiest Ms. Mary Ann Wuyscik Mr. John Zimitski
The Bates Center thanks the University of Pennsylvania Archives and its director, Mark Frazier Lloyd, for their generous in-kind contriubtions of storage support. PLEASE VISIT WWW.NURSING.UPENN.EDU/HISTORYGIVING TO MAKE A GIFT TO THE BATES CENTER OR USE THE CARD ON PAGE 9. YOUR GENEROSITY ENSURES THAT NURSING HISTORICAL RESEARCH HAS A PROSPEROUS FUTURE.
14
The Chronicle - Penn Nursing Science
Nursing History’s Role in the Affordable Care Act
O
n October 1st, a new marketplace will make its debut at HealthCare.Gov. Through the Health Insurance Marketplace consumers will be able to create profiles based on demographics and shop around for insurance coverage based upon their unique needs. The very existence of this marketplace represents a tremendous paradigm shift in the way in which Americans will access healthcare for the foreseeable future, a shift made possible in large part with the passing of The Affordable Care Act (ACA) by congress in 2010. The ACA, also known as ‘Obamacare,’ ushers sweeping reforms aimed at expanding the scope of healthcare coverage in the United States. Some of the key provisions of the ACA include subsidies and expansions in programs, such as Medicaid, to aid lower income individuals in accessing care, as well as new prohibitions on denying coverage for preexisting conditions which will go into effect in 2014. One of the primary goals of the ACA is to foster greater health equity so that there is an increase in the number of people who have access to affordable health insurance in this nation. Another key attribute of the ACA is the unprecedented overhaul of the public health sector in this nation. The ACA is arguably built upon a modernization of the current public health infrastructure. For instance, the full text of the ACA contains several amendments to the existing Public Health Service Act, including mandated public health trainings aimed at equipping workers with the skills needed to improve the quality, scope, and delivery of American healthcare. This expansion of public health access means that the current demands on the nursing workforce will be further exacerbated, highlighting now more than ever the critical need for educating and utilizing nurses. Public health nurses comprise less than 8% of the total nurse workforce, yet represent the highest occupational group of public health workers according to a 2013 study published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation entitled “Enumeration and Characterization of the Public Health Nurse Workforce.” The findings of this study were based on a series of workforce surveys completed by public health nurses in 2012 and highlight that the supply of public health nurses is inadequate for the demand. In addition, the findings illustrate that now, more than ever, a concerted effort must be made to address the public health nursing shortage. Otherwise the existing workforce will be further stressed and depleted under the strains of an increased need for patient care that arises from the influx of new participants in the healthcare system. Furthermore, according to the American Public Health Association (APHA), the worker shortages are just one problem, with other pertinent issues including inadequate recruitment strategies and career advancement (Issue Brief, 2011). All of these issues with the public health nursing workforce certainly lead to a crisis point. However, one can look throughout history to see that the challenges that we face today, while critical and daunting, are nothing that has not by previous generations of American citizens. As Center Director Julie Fairman has stated “nursing history is a powerful tool for shaping modern health policy.” The Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing’s collections have been intentionally curated to speak to present-day issues, such as the need for public health nurses (see side panel), in innovative ways. Our commitment to scholarship that remains at the forefront of historical analysis in healthcare is an important part of the Center’s stated strategic goals because the impact of this work is felt tangible ways that affect the citizenry of this nation and beyond. The promise of expanding healthcare coverage through the Affordable Care Act relies heavily on reforms to the public health system. A look into the history of past healthcare restructuring can be a valuable tool in traversing the not so new challenges that lie ahead.
PUBLIC HEALTH RESOURCES @
THE BATES CENTER Public health nurses stand on the front lines of community outreach, caring for populations where they live through preventative care, advocacy, and education. The history of public health nurses is vast and integral to developing a full understanding of health care throughout the world. Here at the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, there are extensive collections from many individuals and organizations with a focus on public health, including: The personal papers of Jessie May Scott: A leading figure in public health nursing, Jesse May Scott is considered by many a trailblazer who shaped the field on both a national and international level. Including in her collection are not only her personal archive of papers, but also an extensive photo collection that chronicles her life and professional career. In addition to housing the archives of the Visiting Nurse Association of Greater Philadelphia, the Center also holds collections from the Visiting Nurse Associations of Allegheny County, Ambler, South Central Connecticut, Moorestown, and Boston to name a few, making us one of the largest repositories for Visiting Nurse Associations institutional records in the world. The personal papers of two of our Center’s co-founders and leading nursing historians, Joan Lynaugh and the late Karen Buhler-Wilkerson, contain extensive primary source research on public health nursing. The Center has several hundred linear feet of additional resources devoted to public health nursing. To learn more about the collections, please visit www.nursing.upenn.edu/history to search our finding aids.
Fall 2013
Cover story, continued
15
proverb attributed to Goethe – “One sees only what one knows.” This quote was especially apt for me because for several years I had heard from colleagues what a remarkable woman Bates was, but lacking a first-hand account of her, I was unable to fully grasp the impact she had on so many. For me, Barbara Bates was a portrait that literally stood over my cubicle, a stranger that intrigued me, but one I never gave much thought to as I went about my day to day work. However, a closer look at that portrait and the papers of Barbara Bates suddenly made her life and story all the more real to me. I discovered a life curated first and foremost by the person that lived it. I also learned that the people around Bates kept her lost memories alive in a profound way, and it reminded me that the work we do here at the Center in preserving archival history is critical to the future. It is my hope that others, like me, who may not have known Barbara Bates personally, will take the time to examine her rich life and discover the many ways in which she changed the face of healthcare. To learn more about the Bates collection, please visit our website at www.nursing.upenn.edu/history.
Barbara Bates (l, seated) with students
Center Welcomes New Archivist
I
n early 2013, the Bates Center went through a season of transition as long time curator Gail Farr moved on to other opportunities. Also, Project Archivist Sandra Chaff completed her work on compiling the Center’s collections inventory. The inventory, or ‘master list,’ was an impressive undertaking which took over two years to accomplish. Ms. Chaff is currently assisting Penn Nursing Science Dean, Margaret Bond Professor of Nursing Afaf Meleis, in compiling her papers for inclusion at the Bates Center. The Center also welcomed Bethany Myers as its new archivist. A recent graduate from the Florida State University’s Master of Library and Information Studies program, Myers also holds a B.A. in Digital Media from the University of Central Florida. She has previously interned at the University of Pennsylvania Biomedical Library and in the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Research Center. Myers initially began her work as a volunteer at the Bates Center during her graduate studies. During her time at the Center, Bethany has Center Archivist Bethany Myers worked on ensuring standardized metadata for the Philadelphia General Hospital Photo Collection website. She also worked on graphic design and special events at the Center. As the new archivist, she is responsible for processing incoming collections and assisting with research inquiries. Her projects also include organizing archival collections, creating artificial collections for historical items of unknown provenance, and assisting with the migration of legacy finding aids into our new system, Archivists Toolkit. This data migration will increase the number of finding aids searchable on the Penn Libraries’ website and through the National Library of Medicine’s Finding Aids Consortium, and will provide greater accessibility for researchers to the Bates Center’s valuable collections. Myers knowledge of digital media, her technical expertise, and her genuine interest in archival work has made her an ideal addition to the Center and we are happy to have her!
Barbara Bates Center for The Study of The History of Nursing
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing Claire M. Fagin Hall (2U) 418 Curie Boulevard Philadelphia, PA 19104-4217 www.nursing.upenn.edu/history
CALENDAR The American Association for the History of Nursing and the University of Connecticut’s School of Nursing are co-sponsoring the Association’s thirty-first annual conference to be held on September 18-21, 2014, in Storrs and Hartford, Connecticut. The conference provides a forum for researchers interested in sharing new scholarship that addresses events, issues, and topics pertinent to the history of the global nursing profession, its clinical practice, and the field of nursing history. Individual papers, posters, and panel presentations are featured at the conference. Abstracts are due January 31, 2014. Additional information about AAHN and the conference can be obtained at www.aahn.org.
ICOWHI 20th International Congress on Women’s Health 2014, South Africa. ICOWHI, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of health, healthcare, and the well-being of women around the world. The program will take place over three days and will comprise plenary sessions, concurrent sessions, and poster presentations. This congress brings together the full range of disciplines involved in Women’s Health. In addition, the congress will bring together health professionals and related disciplines to review mult-dimensional aspects of current women’s healthcare issues and facilitate partnerships and networking opportunities at the global level. For additional information about the congress, please visit http://www.ns.mahidol.ac.th/n_web/ WomenHealth/index.html.
SAHMS Sixteenth Annual Meeting, February 27 – March 1, 2014, St. Louis, MO. Hosted by the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. For more information go to http://www.sahms.net/HTML/2014_ conference.html. The American Association for the History of Medicine (AAHM) 87th Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, May 8-11, 2014. Please visit the AAHM website, www.histmed.org for more information.
The Chronicle is published both in print and the web twice a year Editor: Tiffany Collier, MA Editorial Assistant: Christine Rohaly Printed by: Brilliant Graphics