Finding Aids & Inventories
Finding aids for our nursing history manuscript collections are listed below. You can also search our collections by keyword on the Philadelphia Area Archives website.
When you’re ready to start researching, you can request specific collections by reviewing the instructions and access policies on our Visiting the Archive page.
Collections are divided into the following categories:
- Hospitals, Schools of Nursing, and Nursing Alumnae Associations
- Voluntary Non-Profit Associations
- Professional and Military Associations
- Additional Organizations
- Individuals
- Additional
- Nursing History Small Collection
Hospitals, Schools of Nursing, and Nursing Alumnae Associations
Albert Einstein Medical Center School of Nursing Records and Alumni collections:
Albert Einstein Medical Center School of Nursing, 1928-1964
Albert Einstein Medical Center School of Nursing, Alumni Association, 1895-1954
Alexian Brothers Hospital, 1885-1981
Chautauqua School of Nursing, 1909-1912
Chestnut Hill Hospital School of Nursing, 1769-1988
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia School of Nursing, 1897-1987
Freedmen’s Hospital Nurses Alumni Club of Philadelphia, 1973-1986
Germantown Hospital and Community Health Services, 1900-1998
Gynecean Hospital for Nursing Candidates, 1914-1918
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing Records, Alumni, and Photos collections:
HUP School of Nursing Records, 1886-1989
HUP School of Nursing, Alumni Association, 1875-2012
Lankenau Hospital School of Nursing, 1871-1992
Leonhard Felix Fuld Archives of the Helene Fuld School of Nursing, 1959-2011
Lock Haven Hospital, 1896-1964
Mercy-Douglass Hospital School of Nursing Records and Alumni:
Mercy-Douglass Hospital School of Nursing, 1896-1977
Mercy-Douglass Hospital, School of Nursing, Alumnae Association 1939-1987
Methodist Episcopal Hospital School of Nursing Records, 1900-1991
Mountainside Hospital School of Nursing Records (Montclair, NJ), 1932-2008
Muhlenberg Hospital School of Nursing, 1896-1972
Northeastern Hospital School of Nursing, 1926-2016
Philadelphia General Hospital Training School for Nurses, Student files, Alumni, Photos, and Other collections (see also Individuals; Additional):
PGH School of Nursing, Student Files, 1885-1940
PGH Training School for Nurses, 1885-1977**
PGH Training School for Nurses, Alumni Association, 1874-2005
PGH Training School for Nurses, Alumni Association, Photographs, 1885-1977
PGH Training School for Nurses, Miscellaneous Collection, 1918-2006
Philadelphia Orthopaedic Hospital and Infirmary for Nervous Diseases, School of Nursing, 1889-1915
Philadelphia School for Nurses, 1903-1904
Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing, 1871-1988
St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing (Lancaster, PA), 1925-1996
St. Mary’s Hospital (Troy, N.Y.), c.1920
Temple-Episcopal Hospital School of Nursing and Alumni Association collections:
Episcopal Hospital records, c. 1851-2001
Episcopal Hospital School of Nursing Records, 1888-2009
Episcopal Hospital Nurses Alumni Association, 1941-2009
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing Records (held at University Archives), 1908-1998
Woman’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 1861-1976
Voluntary Non-Profit Associations
Athens County Visiting Nurses Association, 1982-1992
Brandywine Home Health Agency, 1917-1990
Montgomery County Homemaker Home Health Aide Service, 1967-1990
Moorestown Visiting Nurse Association, 1909-1986
National Fund for Medical Education, 1949-1990**
Neighborhood Visiting Nurse Association, 1900-1990
Princeton Community League Visiting Nurse Committee, 1924-1950
Starr Centre Association of Philadelphia, 1894-1973
Tri-County Visiting Nurse Association, 1894-1991
Visiting Nurse Association of Allegheny County, 1918-1990
Visiting Nurse Association of Ambler & Vicinity, 1922-1987
Visiting Nurse Association of Boston, Photographs, 1900-1960s
Visiting Nurse Association of Eastern Montgomery County, 1928-1986
Visiting Nurse Association of Greater Philadelphia, 1976-1994
Visiting Nurse Association of Hudson Valley, 1898-2017
Visiting Nurse Association of South Central Connecticut, 1905-1987
Visiting Nurse Society of Philadelphia Records and Photographs, 1855-1987
Professional and Military Associations
American Legion, Pennsylvania Division, Helen Fairchild Post No. 412, 1919-1989
American Nephrology Nurses’ Association oral history project, 1986-1987
Andrew G. Curtin Association of Army Nurses, 1861-1903
Association of Community Health Nursing Educators, 1977-1999
Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 1992-
Council on Graduate Education for Administration in Nursing, 1970-1994**
International Council of Nurses, Nurse Refugee Files, 1946-1970
International Council on Women’s Health Issues Records, 1984-2010
National Association of Hispanic Nurses
National Organization for Public Health Nursing, 1913-1953
Pennsylvania Higher Education Nursing Schools Association, 1977-1996
Pennsylvania League for Nursing, 1948-1989
Pennsylvania Nurses’ Association, District 1, 1921-1973
Pennsylvania Nurses’ Association, District 2, 1919-1978
Professional Nurse Educators Group (PNEG), 1969 - 2015
Quad Council of Public Health Nursing Organizations Records, 2000-2007
Southeastern Pennsylvania League for Nursing, 1987-1992**
Additional Organizations
Loeb Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, 1962-1985
National Joint Practice Commission Records, 1971-1979
Neuman Systems Model Trustee Group, 1986-2011
Philadelphia Mayor’s Commission on Health in the Eighties, 1982-1984
Teaching Nursing Home Program records, 1981-1987
Theodore Starr Savings Bank, 1886-1897
Individuals
Aiken, Linda H. and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 1972-1986**
Benoliel, Jeanne Quint, 1955-2011*
Blitzstein Deglin, Ruth Marilyn, 1945-1975
Brunner, Lillian S., 1910-1995
Buhler-Wilkerson, Karen, 1944-2010
Capers, Cynthia Flynn, 1978-1983
Chamberlain, Lois Elizabeth Munroe, 1917-1970**
Clayton, S. Lillian, 1874-1930
Deatrick, Janet A., 1968-2014**
D’Estl, Ernestine Kittl, 1888-1956, PGH scrapbook
DiSandro, Edith Hyde, 1924-1927
Emonds, Beverly L., 1965-1981**
Errickson, Sara Maiter, 1937-1989
Goodrich, Annie Warburton, 1871-1955
Griscom, Edith Lewis Palmer, 1909-1912
Hanlan, Archie J. & Mary S., 1966-2012
Harper, Mary Starke, 1972-1988*
Helfand, William H., 1923-1962 (see also Additional )
Ives, Edith Erikson C. 1902-1988
Johnston, Margaret Alice, 1944-1945**
Lambertsen, Eleanor C. , 1915-1977
Lang, Norma **
Leonard, Dorothy Harvey, 1948 - 1978
Littlefield, Chloe Cudsworth, 1883-1902
Lowery, Barbara, 1980s- c. 1996**
Madden, Marietta H., 1928-1997
Matela, Regina, c. 1960s-1979**
McMoneagle, Mary C., 1875-1937
Meleis, Afaf **
Mereness, Dorothy Ann, 1910-1991
Morris, Mabel Harmon, 1935-1990
Murillo-Rohde, Ildaura, 1930-2005
Murphey, Helen and Mary Murphey Hankinson 1905-1950s
Nightingale, Florence:
Nightingale, Florence, small collection, 1856-1896
Nightingale, Florence, letters and recordings
Nightingale, Florence, recording, 1939
Olinatz, Nanette, 1958-1960**
Page, Nancy J., 1960-1962**
Peplau, Hildegard E., 1949-1987
Petrillo, Madeline H., 1960s-1980s
Pisani, Dorothy McMullan, 1936-2004
Plotnick, Julia**
Rath, Charlotte Tyson, 1928-1970
Robinson, Alice Merritt, 1920-1983
Rothrock, Mary A., c. 1915-1970
Ruggiero, Loretta, c.1972-1977
Schlotfeldt, Rozella M., 1926-1995
Smoyak, Shirley A., 1966 - 2000
Somers, Anne Ramsey, 1933-1982
Stachniewicz, Stephanie A., 1954 - 1997
Strumpf, Edna E. LaPorte, 1933-1991
Strumpf, Neville E., 1965 - 2011 **
Styles, Margretta Madden, 1973-1992
Sullivan-Marx, Eileen, 1992-2000
Trautman, Mary Jane Holcombe, 1940s-2005
Troncelliti, Manrico A. and the Philadelphia General Hospital Oral History, 1982-1990
Watts, Rosalyn J., 1980 - 2005
Wiltzius, Henrietta A., 1918-1920, 1923
Wolf, Zane Robinson, 1980-2018
Additional
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing Videotape Collection **
Center for the Study of the History of Nursing records, 1984-**
Current Procedural Terminology Project papers, 1990-2009
Evening Bulletin, 1905-1975**
Dorothy Marks Eataugh: History of Nursing Scrapbook, 1938
Diane Hamilton Miscellaneous 20th Century Community Health Photograph Collection, 1903-1980
William Helfand Postcard Collection, 1900-1990
William Helfand Sheet Music Collection, 1912-1939
Historical Federal Documents Collection, 1950-2000
History of Nursing in Philadelphia, 1973-1974
Miscellaneous items collection, 1899-2003
Nursing Postal Stamp Collection, 1970-1986
Penn Nursing Doctoral Student Organization, 1979-
Philadelphia General Hospital Oral History Project, 1993-1994
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing Development Office, 1963-2000
World War I Photographs from France, 1918-1925
Michael Zwerdling Postcard Collection, 1907-1916
Nursing History Small Collection (contains the following small collections)
Freedmen’s Hospital Nurses Alumni Club of Philadelphia, 1973-1986
St. Luke’s Hospital, c.1900
St. Mary’s Hospital (Troy, N.Y.), c.1920
Cavell, Edith Louisa, 1913-1922
Currier, Hazel Peterson, 1938-2005
Fondes, Tabitha Parker, 1912-1996
Francis, Susan C., 1934-1987
Godfrey, Mary Robinson, 1910-1987
Gruber, Mildred, 1904-1906
Heffernan, Bernardine, 1968-1986
Hoff, Bertha, 1913-1914
Holman, Lydia, 1888-1960
Izcka, Jadwiga, 1939-1960
Jones, Elizabeth, 1899-1946
Kennedy, Cecile, 1939-1957
Kennedy, Marion Kern, 1940
Lemley, Alice and Lillie, 1887-1888
Mahoney, Jean L., photographs, 1942-1945
McNeil, Marjorie E. Snider, 1942-2005
Meissner, Ruth Erikson, 1932-1935
Newman, Edna Albert, 1924-1936
Nightingale, Florence, 1856-1896
Osborne, Estelle M., 1954
Overholt, Ella Florence, 1921
Radbill, Samuel X., 1985-1989
Renz, Dorothy L. Fiefer, 1953-1957
Ritter, Beatrice, 1947-1957
Shapiro, Judith Newman, 1936-1988
Soper, Martha Lenora Collett, 1919-1920
Stern, Beverly Peril, 1955-1960
Todd, C. Edwina, 1947-1953
van der Peet, Roberta, 1989
Witmer, Laura Strickler, 1934-1947
York, Edith M., 1922-1923
J.B. Lippincott Company, 1871-1931
Nurses for the Future Conference, 1987
Nursing Postal Stamp Collection, 1970-1986
Peter Short Photograph Collection, 1993-1994
Michael Zwerdling Postcard Collection, 1907-1916
*This collection is restricted. Please contact the Center for more information.
**Contact the Center for more information.
For further questions about the collections please contact the Bates Center at (215) 898-4502 or email: nhistory@nursing.upenn.edu