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School of Nursing

Famous & Notable Nurses in History

Alcott, Louisa May

Authored Little Women; volunteered for 6 weeks as a nurse in the Union Army during the American Civil War and wrote a book called Hospital Sketches (pub. 1863) based on her experience; Hospital Sketches received popular and critical acclaim at the time of publication

  • Freely available resources

    • Image:

    • UVA School of Nursing blog:

    • Text of , access provided by Tufts University

  • Subscription/paid resources

    • Choperena, A., & Fairman, J. (2018). Louisa May Alcott and Hospital Sketches: An innovative approach to gender and nursing professionalization. Journal of advanced nursing, 74(5), 1059–1067.

    • Seiple, S. (2019). . Seal Press, Hatchett Book Group.

Barton, Clara (Clarissa Harlowe Barton)

Founded the Red Cross; known as the “angel of the battlefield” during the American Civil War

  • Freely available resources

    • , from the Clara Barton Museum

    • , from the American Red Cross

  • Subscription resources

    • “,” Strickler (2018)

    • “: Clara Barton turned caring into a global call to action,” Schmidt (2004)

Bickerdyke, Mary Ann

Hospital administrator and nurse during the American Civil War; established 300 field hospitals during the war and advocated for soldiers, veterans, and helped many secure pensions with legal assistance

  • Freely available resources

    • “: Mother Bickerdyke during the Civil War,” Sartin (2003) in Oxford Military Medicine

    • from the Ohio History Collection

    • from the Library of Congress collection

  • Subscription resources

    • WALKER, MARCENA. (2003). : Mother to the Union Boys. Journal of Christian Nursing, 20, 35-36.

Blake, Florence Guinness

Instrumental in the development of advanced nursing education programs; pioneer in pediatric nursing

  • Freely available resources

    • (1996)

    • from the American Association for the History of Nursing (1907-1983)

    • from OAAPN (2016)

Bradley, Ruby

A US Army Nurse Corps Officer; a POW of the Japanese in WWII; one of the most decorated women in military history

  • Freely available resources

    • from the Drexel University Online News

    • in the LA Times (2002)

    • “,” from the US Army Medical Department Office of Medical History

Breckenridge, Mary

Driver of rural healthcare in US; instrumental in development of the professional role of the nurse midwife; founded the Fronter Nursing Service

  • Freely available resources

    • , Mary Breckenridge (1881-1965)

    • , and offshoot of the Frontier Nursing Service

    • (1982)

Cannary, Martha Jane (Calamity Jane)

Cared for the sick in Deadwood, SD during the smallpox epidemic of 1878

  • Freely available resources

    • Rapid City Journal:

    • Black Hills Visitor:

    • Gehrke, K. (2015).

  • Subscription/paid resources

    • Herda, D.J. (2018). . TwoDot.

Carnegie, Mary Elizabeth 

Dix, Dorothea

Directed nurses during the American Civil War; advocated for the mentally ill; there is some debate about whether she should be considered a nurse

  • Freely available resources

    • , from the American Association for the History of Nursing

    • “,” Desrochers (2021), The Smithsonian Institute Archives

    • “,” American Journal of Public Health (2006)

  • Subscription resources

    • Field, P. (1999). Less than Meets the Eye: The Strange Career of Dorothea Dix. Reviews in American History, 27(3), 389-396. Retrieved September 3, 2021, from

Dock, Lavinia

Pioneer in nursing education and suffragette

  • Freely available resources

    • Garofalo, M. E., & Fee, E. (2015). Lavinia Dock (1858-1956): picketing, parading, and protesting. American journal of public health, 105(2), 276–277.

    • on the AAHN site (1858-1956)

Fu, Mei R.

Current nurse researcher in the area of lymphedema; helped to found the Chinese American Nurses Association

  • Freely available resources

    • on Boston College News page (2019)

    • Dr. Fu’s

    • , NYU Scholars Profile

Henderson, Virginia Avenel

Developed “Need Theory,” which promoted patient independence; wrote and published Basic Principles of Nursing Care, which is likened to Notes on Nursing in importance and relevance; global impact on nursing research

  • Freely available resources

    • from AAHN (1897-1996)

    • from Post University (2020)

    • from the Sigma Repository

  • Subscription resources

    • She published quite a lot, most of it is prior to the 1990’s and isn’t digital. I can provide a bibliography, but there wouldn’t be live links in all likelihood.

Johnson-Brown, Hazel W.

Served as Chief of the Army Nurse Corps and was the first black female to become a General in the Army

  • Freely available resources

    • in the Washington Post (2011)

    • in the US Army Profiles of African Americans

    • from George Mason University

Kofoworola, Abeni Pratt

Kofoworola Abeni Pratt (1915-92) was an outstanding nursing leader, well recognized for her work in her home country, Nigeria, but scarcely known in the United Kingdom, despite her significant British connections and international reputation. She was the first Black person to train at the Nightingale School, then based at St Thomas’ Hospital, London, starting in 1946.

 

Lincoln, Mary Todd

Volunteered in the hospitals in Washington, DC after the Battle of the First Bull Run and in the Union hospitals during the American Civil War

  • Freely available resources

    • “,” from OSU

    • , from Lippincott’s NursingCenter blog

  • Subscription/paid resources

    • Baker, Jean Harvey. "." Americans at War, edited by John P. Resch, vol. 2: 1816-1900, Macmillan Reference USA, 2005, pp. 105-106. Gale eBooks

Lynch, Virginia

Instrumental in developing and defining forensic nursing; established the first post-sexual assault care clinic

  • Freely available resources

    • from the Academy of Forensic Nursing

    • , from Springer

  • Subscription resources

    • Maguire, K., & Raso, M. (2017). Reflections on Forensic Nursing: An Interview With Virginia A. Lynch. Journal of forensic nursing, 13(4), 210–215.

Mahoney, Mary E.

First black female nurse professionally licensed in the US;

  • Freely available resources

    • “,” from the Simmons University blog

    • , from marymahoney.org

    • , ANA Hall of Fame inductee 1976

  • Subscription resources

    • “.” Eke (2021), The Lancet

    • Chayer, M. (1954). Mary Eliza Mahoney. The American Journal of Nursing, 54(4), 429-431.

Maxwell, Anna Caroline

Contributed to nursing education validating the effectiveness of training nurses during the Spanish-American War; influenced the establishment of the Army Nurse Corps (1901)

  • Freely available resources

    • in 1996

    • in AAHN (1851-1929)

    • on Drexel University site

Murillo-Rohde, Ildaura

Instrumental in founding the National Association of Hispanic Nurses; began her nursing career in San Antonio; first Hispanic Dean of Nursing at NYU

  • Freely available resources

    • from the NAHN

    • , AAMC (2020)

  • Subscription resources

This is a link to her works indexed in PubMed:

Peplau, Hildegard

Major contributor nursing theory; first published nursing theorist since Nightingale; created Middle Range Nursing theory and contributed to mental health law reform; “Mother” of psychiatric nursing

  • Freely available resources

    • (2017)

    • in the New York Times (1999)

    • in 1998

  • Subscription resources of the Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association was dedicated to Peplau

Pettus, Viola

Black nurse in Texas who is remembered for her bravery during the 1918 Influenza Epidemic; famous for caring for all those who sought treatment

  • Freely available resources

    • , a modern play in which Viola Pettus is a character that explores the American Identity

Richards, Linda

First professionally trained American nurse; established nurse training programs in the US and Japan; invented patient medical records

  • Freely available resources

    • in AAHN (1841-1930)

    • in the New York State Senate records, inducted as a Woman of Distinction in 2011

    • in 1976

Sanger, Margaret

Pioneering advocate for women’s health and access to safe and effective contraception; founded the Birth Control Federation of America, which later became Planned Parenthood after Sanger’s departure; there has been some debate recently about her attitude toward ethnic minorities

  • Freely available resources

    • at NYU

    • , profile in The American Experience provided by PBS

    • “,” Time magazine (2016)

    • “?” Kelly, NPR (2015)

  • Subscription resources

    • Dhont M. History of oral contraception. Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care. 2010 Dec;15 Suppl 2: S12-8. .

    • Theroux R, Hawkins JW. If Margaret Sanger could see us now. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs. 2008 May-Jun;37(3):353. .

    • O’Brien, G. V. (2013). Margaret Sanger and the Nazis: How Many Degrees of Separation? Social Work, 58(3), 285–287.

Seacole, Mary

Set up the “British Hotel” for convalescent British Officers during the Crimean War; tended to battlefield wounded; the British War Office rejected her application to join their Nursing Contingent; there is debate about her status as a nurse due to lack of formal training, or as potentially the first nurse practitioner due to the practical application of her “doctress” skills

  • Freely available resources

    • “,” Anionwu (2012)

    • She wrote an autobiography entitled, , which may be read in the UPENN digital library

    • from the National Library of Jamaica, with links to further resources

    • Pitts D. : Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale. Windows Time. 2018 Apr;26(1):7-9. PMID: 29714895.

  • Subscription resources

    • Paquet, S. P. (2017). The Enigma of Arrival: The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands. African American Review, 50(4), 864–876.

    • Clendon J. Mary Seacole - the world's first nurse entrepreneur? J Adv Nurs. 2014 Jun;70(6):1445-6. doi: 10.1111/jan.12290. PMID: 24730722.

Togasaki, Kazue

Trained as a nurse, but was unable to secure employment due to discrimination; enrolled in medical school becoming one of the first Japanese women in the US to earn an MD; led a medical team at the Tanforan Assembly Center where she was detained during WWII

  • Freely available resources

    • from the National Park Service

    • from the Drexel University archive

  • Subscription resources

    • FISET, L. (1999). Public Health in World War II Assembly Centers for Japanese Americans. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 73(4), 565-584. Retrieved September 3, 2021, from

Tubman, Harriet

Having escaped enslavement, she served as a nurse to the Gullah people and in the Union hospitals during the American Civil War

  • Freely available resources

    • “,” from New York State Nurses Association

    • “,” from the UVA School of Nursing blog

  • Subscription/paid resources

    • . (2015). American History, 50(2), 8.

Villaescusa, Henrieta

First Hispanic nurse to be appointed Health Administrator, in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare

  • Freely available resources

    • on the NAHN site

    • in the Pasadena Star News (2005)

Whitman, Walt

Whitman moved to Washington, DC especially to volunteer to care for the wounded at Union hospitals during the American Civil; many of his works were inspired by his experiences there

  • Freely available resources

    • “,” from the Smithsonian

    • “: Walt Whitman and Washington’s Civil War hospitals,” from the Walt Whitman Archive

    • “,” from the National Humanities Center

    • “,” by Walt Whitman, access by the Poetry Foundation

  • Subscription/paid resources

    • Hsu D. (2010). Walt Whitman: an American Civil War nurse who witnessed the advent of modern American medicine. Archives of environmental & occupational health, 65(4), 238–239.

    • Foley, S., Sofer, D., & Jacobson, J. (2000). I Am Faithful, I Do Not Give out. The American Journal of Nursing, 100(10), 48-49. 2307/3522316">doi:10.2307/352231

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  • Cuthand Goodwill

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