RN:  The Past, Present and Future of Nurses’ Uniforms     

          Mark Dion and J. Morgan Puett

          Exhibition dates: October 3 – February 14, 2004.

          The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia

 

Is it time to bring back the nursing uniform?  Recently, the topic of the nursing uniform has captured the interest of both the nursing profession and the public. The complexities of nursing uniforms were reviewed in an article in the New Yorker Magazine (March 18, 2002) and more recently by Paul Fussell in his latest book, Uniforms: Why We are What We Wear (2002). Across the country people are asking, “What do you think of nursing uniforms?”, resulting in extensive debate by members of nursing chat groups and readers of professional journals.

 

The Fabric Workshop and Museum of Philadelphia in association with the Center for the Study of the History of Nursing invites all to examine this question in the exhibition, RN: The Past, Present and Future of Nurses’ Uniforms. By combining the unique expertise of the Workshop and the Center, the resulting exhibit, lecture series and fashion presentation will provide a compelling look into the often subtle ways in which the uniform, by design, informs notions of identity and a hierarchical order within the field and society as a whole. 

 

The opening reception is October 3, 2003, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. RN will continue through February 14, 2004. Check our website for exciting events  throughout the exhibit. The Fabric Workshop and Museum is located on the 5th floor of 1315 Cherry Street in Philadelphia; telephone 215-568-1111. Parking is available at several locations on Broad Street just north of City Hall.

 

The Exhibit and Catalogue

This exhibit is the culminating event of artists Mark Dion’s and J. Morgan Puett’s research on nursing uniforms. Puett has teamed with Dion to mine the now defunct Marvin Neitzel Nursing Uniform Company in Troy, New York, to study the changing nature of the nursing uniform as it has developed over the course of the past 150 years. Through a period of research that has included focus groups organized by the Center for the Study of the History of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, visits to various medical libraries and historical collections, and development of their own uniform designs, the Puett and Dion exhibit will present a refreshing examination of the development of the uniform from its inception to its decline, and speculate on its future.

 

The exhibition will be presented in three parts: past, present and future. The past, on view in the 5th floor gallery, will consist of selections of historical nursing uniforms, accessories, and photographic and textual documentation, borrowed from the archives of Marvin Neitzel, The Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, the Ars Medica Collection, and Catholic nursing organizations as well as individuals.

 

The present, on view in the 6th floor gallery, will recreate the factory floor of Marvin Neitzel Uniform Company. The machinery and equipment from the factory will be installed in the gallery and used to manufacture the “ideal” nursing uniform as envisioned and designed by Puett and Dion. 

 

Before moving ahead in time, a media room will feature images of nurses as portrayed by various media throughout modern history. Visitors can view video clips of various Hollywood movies, TV, and video, as well as paperback romance novels, newspaper clippings, and more. Through this media presentation, the artists hope to show how certain stereotypes of nurses were perpetuated by media.

 

After leaving these stereotypes behind, visitors can glimpse the future, and see the artists’ designs of the evolution of the nursing uniform. Based partly on science fiction, imagination, and new technologies, Puett and Dion have created a distant future where the changing world and the nurses’ role within it would demand an evolving uniform. “Bio-Terror Nurse” or “Diagnostic Nurse” are two examples that actually seem not so unbelievable given current world affairs. For example, “Diagnostic Nurse” will have embedded in her uniform equipment to assess vital signs at the touch of a hand or embrace. “Bio-Terror Nurse” will be capable of performing duties despite the event of terrorist attacks or use of chemical weapons. Puett and Dion will create five uniforms of the future for us to consider the importance professional nurses and their ever-changing uniforms.

 

The accompanying catalogue documents the behind-the-scenes process of research, design, and production that are vital to artistic expression. The catalogue will include an historical essay, a pictorial timeline of  the uniform’s evolution, and photographs of nursing uniforms, ephemera, and artifacts such as textiles, accessories, and tools – images that are rarely seen by the general public. An essay by artist/curator Michael Oatman, will describe how “white starch nurses,” as well as today’s students, and  practicing nurses, view the “ideal” nursing uniform. The catalogue will be a companion to the exhibition and an entertaining, educational resource for art enthusiasts, historians, and nursing and medical professionals.

 

The catalogue is co-produced by the Fabric Workshop and Museum and the Center for the Study of the History of Nursing and made possible through a generous gift from the Beatrice Renfield Foundation of New York.

 

For more information about the Fabric Workshop and the artists visit their websites: