Q&A with Jessica Martucci
Q: What drew you to the role of Bates Center curator?
A: I’ve always had an interest in historical work—I spent some time doing a postdoc in bioethics because I wanted to learn how to take the historical work and arguments that I was making, and apply them in a way that might impact what people were doing on the ground, or maybe shape policies. I’ve also spent time in public history settings, working as an oral history researcher and museum curator at the Science History Institute—taking research and making it accessible for a public audience, which was exciting and engaging and just fun to do. My role at the Bates Center utilizes my background and my interest in the history of gender and health care, and researching nurses—all the different things I had been doing in my career. I get to shape and nurture future research in the areas in which I’m interested, through building collections and running the Bates Center fellowship program.
You mentioned you have a history of researching nurses?
Yes, right here at the Bates Center! As a History and Sociology of Science PHD student, the close ties between the HSS department and Bates Center led me to the Center’s seminars. I applied to the Bates fellowship program—at the time I was researching my dissertation on the history of breast feeding. I was interested in understanding how breast feeding knowledge reemerged in the mid-20th century, and became a common part of medicine and hospital practice, after breastfeeding rates had fallen very low. I was able to do some of that research at the Bates Center by learning about what nurses were being taught in schooled changed over time, through tracking changes in teaching materials and curricula.
What is your favorite part of the Bates holdings right now?
The Mercy-Douglass Hospital School of Nursing collection. I’m probably biased because I’ve worked on this collection more than most to put together a parallel exhibit to go along with a screening of a WHYY Movers & Makers documentary about Mercy Douglass Hospital Center in honor of Black History Month—the film explores the history of the hospital and Nurse Training school through the lens of the Black community’s struggle against segregation and health care inequlity. The collection includes student files and photographs that document the Black experience in nursing in the U.S.—and historical information about the two hospitals that merged to form Mercy Douglass. It’s a real gem in the holdings.
We also have a full set of the Cherry Ames series, young adult mystery novels starring nurse Cherry Ames as the protagonist that were published in the World War II era (see Weird and Wonderful). I find these kinds of materials really fascinating and important for understanding the idea that the nurse can reflect broader cultural expectations around gender, sexuality, family, work, and the health care system.
Penn Nursing Magazine, Spring 2024 Issue
