Fall 1997 Vo l 10 No I
ISSN 1049 -2259
THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF NlJRSES Is ALMOST 100 YEARS OLD JOAN
E.
LYNAUGH,
PHD FAAN
This past June saw the convening of yet ~tnothe Can ess of Ih lnterna足 tional Council of Nurses (TCN). We only impertectly understand the "glue" that ha held the ICN together for nearly 100 years Ulrough war, political and eco足 nomic haas, and rdcial and religious strife. Nevel1heless, there il was, in Vancouver, Brili h Columbia, Lllri ing, and auended by well over 6,000 nurse from all over the world. In anticipation of its looth birthday in 1999, we want to share a bit of its story in this issue of the Chronicle. The id a and e. semialness of l1ur'ing is as ld as the family and the tribe but the pread of ho. pitals and the invention of organiLed nu . ing swept aero ' . Europe and North America in a relatively short lime during the 19th enulry. It was in thi atrnospher\; f social change that a handful of women, who took up this new fie ld of nursing, had their greal idea. The e nurse were als deeply engaged in the international women's movement which sought recognition of women as achiever in society and women' right to vote. It was thi intoxi足 cating mixlLIre of omen' right and organizing ntlr ing that brought Ethel Gonion Fenwick and Ulvinia Dock and later Agnes KarU, together. I think of Ul lCN being born an raised on the busy intersection of woman's rights, ocial progressivism, and h alth care reform .
Center for The Study of The Hist ry of Nu U
IV ERSITY OF PEN
URSI
'{LV Nl J
109
Ethel Gordon Man on (Fenwick) traveled LO the United States in 1893 to attend the "World Congres of Repr entative W men" at the Chicago World" Fair. The previ u year, while in the United Slates planning for the Congress, she made it a point to visit Isabel Hampton at John Hopkins Unive , ity Hospital School of Nursing in Baltimore, Maryland. While there he also met Lavinia Dock. Mr '. Fenwick would often say, "the seed of the International Nur'ing rnovern nt now so full of vitality. was then (1 892) sown." By 1899 Mr '. Fenwick was ready to propose that nurses of variou countries unite in an international nursing organization. One year later the leN constit u足 tion was approved; Ethel Fenwic was elected President, Lavinia Dock was elecled Se relary, and Canadian Agnes Snively was elect d Lreasur r. They held the first TCN meeting in Buffalo in 1901 in conjunction wi th th Pan American Expo ition. The ICN was to be a tederation f national nurse bodies. Acc rdi ng to it Con. titu tion, to join the lCN fed ration a national nursing body must be headed by a nurse, free f state control and represent only nurses. Actually no country had such a national body. In 1904, wh n the five year old ICN convened in Berlin, ol1ly three countries, Germany, Grear Britain, and the United States, were ready for fed ration under Ule Con tilUtion. Led by Agnes KarL!. German nllTses eagerly joined the international movem nl.
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