Doris R. Schwartz
Papers, 1917-1992
MC 112

Extent:2.7 linear feet

Provenance:Doris Schwartz, Susan Reverby

Access:This collection is unrestricted.

Citation:Doris R. Schwartz Papers, Center for The Study of The History of Nursing, School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania

Biographical Sketch. Doris Schwartz was born in New York in 1915 to Florence Marie (nee Shuttleworth) and Henry Schwartz. She graduated from Methodist School of Nursing, Brooklyn, New York in 1942. Schwartz obtained her Bachelor of Science degree (1953) and Master of Arts (1958) degree with majors in public health nursing from New York University's School of Education. As part of her educational field experience requirement, she became the first American exchange nurse in public health in rural Sweden.

Following her graduation from nursing school, Schwartz worked for the Brooklyn Visiting Nurse Association in the Red Hook district until she entered the U.S. Army Nurse Corps (1943) where she served four and a half years, including an eight month assignment on the Marigold Army Hospital Ship in the Pacific. After discharge form the Army in 1947 she returned to the Brooklyn Visiting Nurse Association, resigning in 1951 to take a position with the Cornell University School of Nursing and a joint appointment at the Cornell Medical College.

Schwartz remained at Cornell for twenty-nine years serving as clinical instructor, coordinator for nursing in "Comprehensive Care and Teaching Program", researcher in Ambulatory Care, and consultant to the Cornell Medical College Navajo Field Health Program. In 1963 she was associate professor of nursing for community health and co-director for the Family Nurse Practitioner (1972) and the Geriatric Nurse Practitioner programs (1977). During this period Schwartz established a reputation as "one who recognized nursing problems of patients and enjoyed describing and investigating them." She has written numerous scholarly articles and papers, as well as authoring and co-authoring many professional books.

In 1980, following a stroke, Schwartz retired from Cornell University and relocated to Foulkeways in Gwynedd, Pennsylvania, and became associated with the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing as a Senior Fellow with the Gerontology Nursing Program. Throughout her career Schwartz actively served in many professional nursing associations, professional organizations, and received many honors and awards for her contributions to the health care field. Her book, Give Us to Go Blithely, recounts her fifty years in nursing.

Summary.This collection spans Schwartz's professional life documenting her nursing experience and association with the Cornell University School of Nursing. Her earlier experiences are recounted in a series of taped interviews (both audio and video). The collection includes training and research development reports and grants and published and unpublished manuscripts. The collection includes a compilation from Schwartz's diary and her recollections from her fifty years in nursing.

Series Description. This collection has been arranged into six series:

Series I. Personal Information 1917-1992. This series contains documents of Schwartz's biographical information, curriculum vitae, awards and correspondence involving her activities with community and individual health needs. Also, there is a complete listing of published books, sections of Chapters in books, articles and indexed book review lists of Schwartz's writings (1945-1984).

Series II. Teaching Materials and Workshops, 1963-1985. Included in this series are teaching methods, students reports, as well as Schwartz's activities with geriatric workshops both in U.S. and abroad.

Series III. Training and Research Development Reports and Grant Proposals, 1955-1985. This series documents Schwartz's involvement in research and training programs, such as Navajo-Cornell Field Health Research Project, geriatric nurse practitioners and family nurse practitioners, also the Faculty Research Development Grant Report.

Series IV. Published and Unpublished Manuscripts, 1940-1987. This series documents Schwartz's reputation as "One recognizing nursing problems of patients, investigating them, writing and informing others of the need for change". It includes addresses, articles, testimony, interviews, letters to editors, and her published book Fifty Years of Nursing (later changed to Give Us to Go Blithely in 1990).

Series V. Collected Articles and books, 1922-1987. This series includes books and articles collected and given to Schwartz by colleagues and friends. Records of Public Nursing, (1922) and a rare British reprint of A Collection of the Yearly Bills of Mortality, London, 1657-1750 are in this series.

Series VI. Audio-video Tapes, 1982. Included are four audio tapes and four video tapes that document a series of interviews with Schwartz. These interviews were conducted by historian Susan Reverby and explore Schwartz's personal and professional experiences. Part of the Schwartz interview is on two video tapes in the Claire M. Fagin Papers; see Curator for details.

Series I. Personal Information 1917-1992.
Box 1
f.1 Biographical Information, 1983-1988
f.2 Certificate, Associate Fellow of the Academy, New York Academy of Medicine, October 22, 1977
f.3 Charter Fellow of National Academy of Nursing, News Release, American Nurse Association, February 6, 1973
f.4 Citation for Meritorious Service, 25 years - New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Center, 1978

f.5 American Journal of Nursing Company, Re: Geriatric Nursing, 1991
f.6 Annual Letter to Friends and Associates, 1990
f.7 Arden House conference, "Home Based Care", Visiting Nurse Service of New York and Milbank Fund, September 17, 1992
f.8 Associates and Friends, Marian S. Bailey, Mary McR, and Dr. M. Leite- Ribeiro, 1958-1988
f.9 Beard, Mary; historian, 1944-1951
f.10 Dock, Lavinia Lloyd; nursing leader, 1948-49
f.11 Faculty, Cornell University, New York Hospital School of Nursing, 1946- 1981
f.12 Faculty positions, 1977-1987
f.13 Freeman, Ruth; Public Health Administrator, John Hopkins University, 1979
f.14 Friends Journal, Re: Overground Railroad, 1987
f.15 Health Center Advisory Committee, Foulkeways, Gwynedd, PA; Re: "Restraints", 1990
f.16 Kent Award-recommendation letter, 1984-1985
f.17 Mezey, Mathy; program director, Gerontological Nurse Clinician Program, 1980's and 1990's
f.18 New York Times, Letters to Editor, Re: Whooping Cough Vaccine and Senility, 1984.
f.19 Strumpf, Neville E., Division chair, Adult Health and Illness, 1981-1989

f.20 Center for the Study of The History of Nursing, Re: publication of Fifty Years of Nursing, 1984-1987
f.21 Center for the Study of Aging, Re: Hearing Loss, 1983
f.22 World Health Organization, Re: Acknowledgement of Service, 1983
f.23 Yun, Zhu Zhe; First Central Hospital, Tianyin, People's Republic of China, 1990
f.24 Curriculum Vitae, 1982
f.25 Memorandum of agreement, book publication, Geriatric Nursing, 1978
Personal Friends or Associates
f.26 Roberts, Mary M. Editor; American Journal of Nursing, 1921-1949; articles and correspondence in reference to "Lump of Amber" 1959-1989
f.27 Smith, Agnes; student of first undergraduate program for nurses at an American college, Vassar's so called "Rainbow Division", 1917
f.28 Publication list; books, sections or chapters in books, articles and indexed book reviews by Doris Schwartz, 1945-1984
f.29 Newsletter, "Wider Quaker Fellowship" March, 1989

Series II. Teaching Materials and Workshops, 1963-1985
Box 2 Teaching Materials

f.1 U.S.P.H.'s Patient Progress study form, 1963
f.2 Process recording, example of the process 1969
f.3 "Expanded Role for Nurses", 1972-1975
f.4 "Seventeen Successive Elderly Patients with a Persistent Problem of Urinary Incontinence", 1970's

f.5 Rehabilitation "After A Stroke", Notes for class, July 10, 1985
Reports
f.6 "A Nurse Researcher: Doris Schwartz" by Derryl Block, University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing, course N751-Advanced Topics in Nursing Research, 1983
f.7 Reprints used in teaching gerontology class, 1977-1979
Workshops
f.8 Content for geriatric workshop, Swiss Nurses Association, Geneva, Switzerland: June, 1976.
f.9 References for geriatric workshop, University of Pennsylvania, August, 1981
f.10 Report - "Workshop for Certified Geriatric Nurses", University of Cincinnati College of Nursing, May 1985

Series III. Training and Research Development Reports and Grant Proposals, 1955-1985
f.1 A Study and Demonstration of Continuity of Nursing Care Report, August, 1966
f.2 A Study of Referrals to the Public Health Nurse, 1957

f.3 Draft of content and final report, 1969
f.4 Final report of the follow-up of the faculty research development grant, 1969
f.5 Published report of the faculty research development grants, by Doris R. Schwartz, National League for Nursing, Copyright 1981
f.6 Family Nurse Practitioner Program (PRIMEX) Selected readings on the expanded role of nurses, 1975

Box 3

f.7 Final Progress Report, July 1, 1977-June 30, 1980

f.8 Volume I, narrative statement
f.9 Volume II, evaluation of the Geriatric Nurse Practitioner Program and appendix I
f.10 Instructional syllabus, appendix II, part I and part II
f.11 Volume III, syllabus, forward, CE 100-CE 103
f.12 Volume III, syllabus, CE 104-CE107 and appendices

Box 4 Navajo-Cornell Field Health Project, 1955

f.13 Chapters I-VIII, pp. 1-108
f.14 Chapters IX-XI, including appendices and glossary, pp. 111-195
f.15 Articles, Navajo-Cornell Field Health Project, (Reprints), 1960's
f.16 Medical Records in Cross Cultural Practice, by Donald Rieder and Bernice Loughlin, Navajo-Cornell Field Health Project, 1958

Box 5
f.17 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Request for Project Support and Conditions of Grant, From "The Evolving role of Nurses in Care of the Elderly, Proposal II 10301, May 15, 1985
f.18 The Multi-Foundation Program to Help Elderly Americans Continue to Live at Home, Applicant Instruction for applying for grant, 1985

Series IV. Published and Unpublished Manuscripts, 1940-1987
Addresses
f.1 American Gerontologic Nurses Association, 1988, Annual Conference, keynote address, 1988
f.2 North Penn Stroke Club, "Stroke Rehabilitation", address to members, 1984
f.3 United Hospital Fund Workshop for Administrators and Supervisors," Notes on a Hospital Experience", 1987

f.4 "A Human Word Bank", Tomorrow's Nurse, December-January, 1961-62
f.5 "Continuity of Nursing Care", 1963
f.6 "Highlights of an Interview with Margery Trieber Overholser", The Alumnae News, Cornell University School of Nursing Alumnae Association, Inc, 1973
f.7 "My Three Months in Yokohama Harbor", Yankee Magazine, January 1981
f.8 "Nursing Care Can Be Measured", American Journal of Nursing, Vol.48, No.3, March 1948
f.9 "Research in Patient Care", Nursing Outlook, Vol.10, February, 1962
f.10 "Understanding Chronic Illness" Rossman and Schwartz, Montefiore Hospital, New York City, Home Care Program, 1956
f.11 "Use of Mechanical Restraints in Nursing Homes," 1980's
f.12 "Wartime Wedding", Foulkeways Bulletin Literary Supplement, 1953
f.13 "When Sacco and Vanzetti Died", Foulkeways Bulletin Supplement, April 1985

f.14 A Divine Discontent, E. Kathleen Russel, Reforming Educator, no date
f.15 Generations: An American Family, John Egerton, University of Kentucky Press, 1983
f.16 Healing and Peace, Albert Schweitzer's Mission, Norman Cousins, no date
f.17 The House on Henry Street (1915) and Windows on Henry Street, (1932) by Lillian Wald, no date

f.18 Correspondence, 1984-1985
f.19 "Doris' Diary, October 14, 1963" (6 typed leaves, in part an evaluation of the Home Aide Program)
f.20 Doris' Journal, Follow-Up of a Stroke - the Return of Vision, 1979
f.21 Follow-Up of a Stroke - the Return of Vision, Chapter XIV, 1980

f.22 Chapters I-VI
f.23 Chapters VII-XVI

f.24 Chapter I-V
f.25 Chapter VI-XI

Box 6
f.26 Forty Years of Nursing, Doris R. Schwartz, M.A., R.N., F.A.A.N., 1985. (published edition)
f.27 "Retirement Planning", Gerontological Nursing, 1984
Interviews
f.28 Dean and former Dean of School of Nursing, University of Toronto, Canada, at Foulkeways, 1985
f.29 Susan Bertelmann, assistant to the medical archivist

f.30 "Public Health Nursing", Editor, New York Times, 1950
f.31 "Use of Mechanical Restraints in Nursing Homes - Call for Help", Geriatric Nursing Journal, Jan/Feb, 1985

f.32 A Book of Snapshots: Twenty Brief Encounters with Walsh McDermott (a collection of vignettes, 1980's)
f.33 Childhood Days in New Mexico, Mary Mac Arthur, Bryan, 1897- 1911
f.34 Stories of Old Mill RFD. by Residents of Long Ago, Pike County, Pa., 1973

f.35 "A New Research Role for Former Health Care Faculty Living in a Life Care Retirement Community or Other Congregate Living Facilities", (Abstract), 1980's
f.36 "A Pilot Experiment in Team Nursing" American Public Health Nursing Section, 1964 (given at APHA Annual Meeting)
f.37 "Being a Patient", United Hospital Fund Conference, 1987
f.38 "Beginning Awareness of the Need for Nursing Assessment, Nursing Diagnosis, and Research in United States", Nursing Workshop, China Medical Association, at Beijing and Nanjing, China, 1980's
f.39 "Four Examples of Mini Research", no date
f.40 "Humanistic Care of the Aged in an Era of High Technology" (1980's)
f.41 "Therapeutic Component, Crucial to total Environment", Second National Conference on Long Term Care", Washington, DC, 1982
f.42 "Nurse Practitioners", Impromptu remarks made by Doris Schwartz, on Shirley Ross' paper, Conference on Ambulatory Care, New York Academy of Medicine, 1972
f.43 Statement before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, May 25, 1983
f.44 Summary of Testimony, public hearing held by State Senator Franz Leichter
(N.Y.C.) May 13, 1979, "Expanding Protection for the Elderly from Nursing Homes Transferred to General Hospitals" 1979

Series V. Collected Articles and Books, 1922-1987
Box 7

f.1 "A Health Maintenance Service for Chronically Ill Patients", American Public Health Journal, vol.60, No.4, April, 1970
f.2 "A Nightingale Portrait", Virginia M. Dunbar, 1983
f.3 "A Safe Place to Be Ourselves" Peggy L. Curchack, 1983
f.4 "Biographical Sketch of Virginia M. Dunbar", Louise Hazeltine, 1986
f.5 "Dolphins of the Merion Deanery, What is the Dolphin Program", 1980
f.6 "New Nursing Specialty to Aid the Aged", The Daily Item, Port Chester, NJ, February 9, 1978.
f.7 "Study of Spiritism as it Affects Communication, Diagnosis and Treatment of Puerto Rican People", Purdy, Pellman, Flores and Bluestone, 1970's

f.8 Florence Nightingale's Influence on Nursing, Margaret G. Arnstein, 1952
f.9 "Memo on Kentucky" Frontier Nursing Service, Autumn, 1988
f.10 Cardiology for Nurses, Manual de Cardiologia para Enfermeras, La Prensa Médica Mexicana, Mexico, 1969
f.11 The Cost of a Program of Health Activities with Special Emphasis on Public Health Nursing, (East Harlem Nursing and Health Demonstration District Study, 1924)
f.12 Health Statistics - A Collection of the Yearly Bills of Mortality, 1657-1758, facsimile edition, 20th century.
f.13 Management - Incontinence in the Home, Patricia Dobson, 1974
f.14 Records of Public Health Nursing, Louis I. Dublin, Ph.D., Statistician, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, N.Y., 1922

Series VI Audio and Video Tapes, 1982
Box 7

Tape 1 Family history which includes grandparents and parents; relationship with mother and brother; depression years and its effects on family life; school years; summer camping from age 10 to 16; working years as a sales girl and taking evening college courses; and selecting of nursing school to pursue a nursing career.

Tape 2 Schwartz's experience following being discharged from the Army and prior experience with the Rehabilitation Army Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan just before discharge; obtaining a college degree and working part-time for the American Journal of Nursing with editor Mary Roberts; and working with the Brooklyn Visiting Nurse Association's "The Red Hook Project."

Tape 3 Schwartz's highlighting of changes within nursing from 1940s to 1960s; experience in the Red Hook area when employed with the Brooklyn VNA; educational experience in Sweden and with the Frontier Nursing Service; and Navajo-Cornell Field Health Project, family nurse practitioner and geriatric nurse practitioner programs at Cornell University's School of Nursing.

Tape 4 Schwartz differentiates between hospital and public health nursing in 1940s; nursing education programs and professional organization as to their past and future needs; and spoke of her three foster children (one in Korea, one in Colombia, South America, and the third in New York City) in their twenties at the time of this interview.

(Note: see also MC 95, Fagin papers, box 22) of interview of Schwartz by Susan Reverby. Four VHS cassette tapes, 1982.

These tapes highlight Schwartz's career as a nurse. On the first tape she relates her Army nursing experiences during World War II. She tells why she enlisted in the army, and then details the three different phases of her stay in the army-- first as head nurse of a forty-five bed amputee ward at Mitchell Field Hospital in Long Island, New York which was a temporary hospital for soldiers returning from the war in Europe; when she was stationed on the Marigold, an army hospital ship that sailed the Pacific Ocean; and after the war as head nurse for eighteen months at Percy Jones Military Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan, a 2000-bed rehabilitative facility for veterans of the war. During the first two periods, Schwartz describes the everyday occurrences in hospitals during the war and the training she received in order to work at each place. For the third period, Schwartz relates the history of rehabilitative hospitals and the effects that this period had on her later career.

Schwartz comments on the effects that the army nurses had on civilian nursing and describes trends such as the increasing specialization of the nursing profession along with the creation of new jobs (such as nurse clinicians) after World War II. Also discussed is the growing independence of nursing during this time period and criticism of this change.

In the remainder of the tapes, Schwartz narrates events in her life after the army such as working for the American Journal of Nursing under Mary Roberts while finishing her nursing studies at New York University. She describes being a part of the pioneering program that combined the Visiting Nurse Association of Brooklyn at Red Hook with the New York City Health Department's program in 1946-1947. She mentions receiving a Rockefeller Fellowship for a program at the University of Toronto that trained future leaders in nursing from around the world, and being the staff nurse for the ten-year Comprehensive Care and Teaching Program at Cornell University's Medical School, which trained medical students to become generalists instead of specialists. Schwartz discusses the innovative aspects of the program, its influences and why it existed and eventually disappeared. Schwartz also describes her gerontology study of 1961 which was one of the first research projects done by a nurse on the effects of aging.

These tapes detail visiting nurse societies and public health nursing and how they evolved during the 1960s and 1970s. Among changes mentioned are the proprietarization of home care, the intervention of the government through medicare, and the increasing administrative atmosphere of the visiting nurse societies.

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