University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

This collection consists of papers, administrative records, artifacts, and photographs that document many operational aspects of the Alumnae Association of the Philadelphia General Hospital. Of note are the personal papers of Alice Fisher.

The Mercy-Douglass Hospital was an African-American hospital and the first black nurse training school in in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It existed from 1895-1960. This collection contains the institutional records of Mercy-Douglass, along with over 200 photographs of the hospital and nursing school.

This unprocessed collection contains the records of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing. It primarily consists of administrative files such as reports, minutes, memos, correspondence, and handbooks and manuals, among other materials.

This collection contains photographs related to Philadelphia General Hospital. Images includes people, activities, buildings, and equipment, ranging in date from the early 1900s through the 1970s.

The records of the Visiting Nurse Society of Philadelphia document a wide range of themes and issues in home nursing and the care of the indigent poor. The collection includes trustees' minutes, board correspondence, committee reports, and branch association files. Also included is a well documented collection of photographs.

This collection consists of the personal papers of Martha Emily Shaw, Philadelphia native and graduate of the Training School for Nurses of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. This collection contains a volume of her lecture notes from 1911. Shaw served as a nurse during World War I at the University of Pennsylvania's Base Hospital No. 20 in France. Upon her return from the war, she became an active member of the American Legion’s Helen Fairchild Post #412. Her activities with the Post are documented in this collection's photographs.

The Bates Center's Small Collections are various, unrelated accessions that have been individually assigned collection numbers. Many of the Small Collections consist of a single folder.

This collection contains records relating to the Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia. Materials include historical accounts, administrative records, board minutes, annual reports, correspondence, and photographs.

This is an artificial collection of miscellaneous items that came to the Bates Center unsolicited and/or for which provenance is unclear. These individual items are not related to each other by subject, material type, or provenance. Materials may include organizational records, correspondence, personal notebooks, and ephemera.

This collection chronicles the long history of one of Philadelphia's most respected diploma schools of nursing, that of the Lankenau Hospital. It contains records which span the entire life of the school, from its inception in 1899 (at Lankenau's institutional predecessor, the German Hospital) to its eventual close in May of 1992.

This collection documents the founding, flourishing and eventual closing of the Presbyterian School of Nursing, a hospital-based nursing school in Philadelphia. The hospital itself was founded in 1871 under the sponsorship of the Presbyterian Church. Its nurse training program was begun in 1889. The collection's strength is the relative completeness of student records, good documentation of the school's curricula and teaching materials. The supportive role both the Ladies Aid Society and the Alumni Association played in the growth of the School are evident in these records.

Theresa Lynch (1896-1994) is remembered as the first Dean of the independent School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. The bulk of this collection is related to the Penn School of Nursing, but also includes personal correspondence, speeches, awards, biographical sketches, and photographs.

The Starr Centre was a settlement house with an extensive array of programs in South Philadelphia and Germantown. Through its Medical Department and a cooperative agreement (later a merger) with the Visiting Nurse Society of Philadelphia, the Starr Centre provided home health care to Philadelphia's African American and immigrant communities. This collection contains the agency's administrative records documenting its long history of service, as well as photographs, artifacts, and scrapbooks.

The Visiting Nurse Association of South Central Connecticut was founded in 1904 as the Visiting Nurse Association of New Haven. The Milford Visiting Nurse Association, founded in 1919, became part of the VNA of New Haven in 1966. This collection includes records mainly from the 1930s to 1990s. Documents include the Association's service evaluations, National League for Nursing accreditation, committee planning for meeting community health and service needs, annual reports (1960-1993) and service manuals.

The Neighborhood Visting Nurse Association grew from the merger of several eastern Pennsylvania community and home health service agencies. These records document services provided to communities in Chester and Delaware counties during the 20th century. Materials include board minutes and reports, correspondence, photographs, financial information, and other administrative records.

This collection contains the 20th-century records of two New Jersey Visiting Nurse Associations: the Moorestown Visiting Nurse Association (MVNA) and the Visiting Nurse Society of Riverton, Cinnaminson and Palmyra (VNSRCP). These two organizations merged in 1967.

This collection includes the personal and professional files of Mary Brennan, a Pennsylvania nurse active during the World War II era.

Irene Matthews is a nurse historian who spent part of her career researching notable women who served as nurses in the military services. This collection includes the files that Matthews created while researching several women for a proposed publication entitled Dictionary of Early Nurses.

The Chestnut Hill Hospital School of Nursing Records consist of 20.45 linear feet of hospital records, school administration records, faculty and student files, yearbooks, photographs, and some artifacts. The records extend from the school's creation in 1908 until its closing in 1987. The collection comprehensively documents the growth of a suburban community hospital nurse training program.

This collection contains records of the Germantown Hospital and Community Health Services School of Nursing, in Germantown, Philadelphia, PA. Materials include student records, Nursing Alumni Association records, yearbooks, and minutes.

This photographic collection, likely assembled from previously published sources, shows the activities of various visiting nurse associations around the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. It also contains other images related to public health, along with a series of Korean War photographs.

The Methodist Episcopal Hospital was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It opened in 1892 and soon afterwards established a nursing school. This collection contains student nurse records from the early 20th century and financial records from the World War II period.

Doris E. Roberts, R.N., Ph.D. was an internationally known nurse leader and educator in the field of community health services. These papers span Roberts’ professional career and documents her educational and academic experience, as well as awards and recognition received as a public health and nursing leader. This collection is comprised of addresses, articles, and documents relating to professional associations, as well as photographs of Roberts.

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was one of the earliest pediatric hospitals to open a training school for nurses. This collection consists of materials relating to the Hospital, the School of Nursing, and the School of Nursing Alumnae Assocation. It includes administrative records, student files, and photographs.