As well as badges I collect some nursing history books, at present I obtained a book from an antique book shop for a few quid. It is called Auntie Mabels War and is about a nurse from Sheffield who went to France during WW1 and has lots of her old photos and postcards she wrote during this time. so it is worth looking in these antique book shops you never know what you can pick up. has anyone else had a good find.
There are a whole range of books related to the history of nursing and many of these,Like auntie mabels war,can be picked up reasonably cheaply from bookshops or online. I tend to use sites like Abebooks,and a keyword search will bring up thousands of titles,similarly there are often titles on ebay.
Broadly speaking there are formal histories of the different aspects of the profession such as "Sisters in Arms-British Army Nurses tell Ther Stories", "Fever Hospitals and fever Nurses","Effects of the NHS on the Nursing Profession 1948-61","When Matron Ruled"etc
Then there are a range of personal histories such as " Yes Sister No Sister","Fear Not to Sow"," Is this you Nurse?","When the Nightingale sang",etc
Then there are hundreds of of histories of the different hospitals themselves and these vary considerably as to their value and interest.Some feature a strong nursing standpoint whilst others are very medically orientated. I would recommend "QE Nurse 1938-1957" as an interesting one.We did start listing some book reviews on my Multiply sites but admit it has fallen by the wayside somewhat! See; http://nursinghistory.multiply.com/reviews and ; http://nursingbadges.multiply.com/reviews and ; http://hospitalshistory.multiply.com/reviews
hi, well you have gave me a lot of books to look for I did not realise there were so many out there. I have got the history books of hospitals where I worked which I would not part with or even lend out as I know I would never see them again. Law Hospital in Carluke and Park Prewett in Basingstoke which are both closed now but I have badges and some memobelia which I have collected. I will try and look for some of those books you have said about. many thanks jock
For a further reading list on military nursing check this list out from the excellent scarlet finders site; http://www.scarletfinders.co.uk/9.html
my latest purchase of a book is history of Royal South Hants Hospital 1838-1971 called Proud Heritage it has some old photos of the hospital and two pages of old badges and centenery medals all in black and white but interesting. it is a limited edition so probably not to many around. jock :)
I worked at the old RSH at times although my main base was at Southampton General across town.They had a display case in the old wood panelled boardroom with several of these badges from the book, which I used to covet.In one of the corridors at the back of the hospital was a mosaic finding the ship logo of the badge set into the floor,I do wonder if it's still there as much of the hospital site has been redeveloped I believe.One of my priority "collecting "hospitals for which I have several postcard images and badges but would love a training prospectus if anyone ever comes across one?
Glad you liked the book.
The James Moroney textbooks of nursing.
Dave.
Hi,
Forgive me if you already know about these, but in my surfing about the internet, I have come across two (well many) online books that are available at the finding, they are finding (but somewhat large files):
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofnursing02nutt
http://ia311006.us.archive.org//load_djvu_applet.php?file=3/items/historynursingi00toolgoog/historynursingi00toolgoog.djvu
I am also looking for contributions to a book proposal that I am looking to develop, entitled something like "An introduction to the history of nursing", short, pragmatic but scholarly writing on a variety of subjects such as men in nursing, the history of the GNC, etc etc...if anybody feels they might like to join me on this, please email me on fbiley@bournemouth.ac.uk.
Wilf - on another subject, I've not forgotten you.
Regards, Fran
Hi Fran.
Thanks for that - any useful information about our history is welcome and important.
*The second link - my security reports it as unsafe - probably because it wants to download an applet. I will check as soon as I am able, but there may be a short delay getting back caused by inclement weather here.
Best.
W.
Ps. I know - been there.
Hi.
The follow up to Fran's second link above.
It does contain a couple of 'nasties' which may upset your internet security, but in general we feel that it is probably safe.
If you want to download but don't want to be anxious there is a direct pdf file link here:-
http://ia341043.us.archive.org/0/items/historyofnursing00toolrich/historyofnursing00toolrich.pdf
It is a 37Mb download, and may take a minute or two, but if you don't want to download the djvu viewer - particularly if you already have a pdf viewer such as the Adobe reader - then just use the link immediately above.
Always scan any downloads.
Will.
hi - i accidently opened Frans link and it caused no end of problems. It closed down my internet and for about an hour my computer kept finding - all seems OK but would advise caution if opening this link
sue x
Oh dear, this is a shame. Out of interest, I downloaded both documents again on both of my other computers and they loaded up quickly with no problems at all, even with my high security settings, but I do have very fast comps with a great ADSL links. I also went back and looked at the sites to see if there could be anything fishy there, and they seem to be excellent and well established. Sue - they are very big files, do you have good download speeds and good security?
virus protection to the point of being neurotic!! but yes its good and have a decent broadband speed - don't worry these things happen in the world of computers!!!
Hello,
Wishing you all a joyous and happy festive season.
I picked up a book last week titled Liverpool Royal Infirmary Nurses' Training School, Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Nurses' League, pub. 2008.
It is an excellent pictorial record and I really recommend it for those intrested like ourselves.
All the best for this Festive Season,
ODPBarry
The History of the Nursing Profession by Brian Abel-Smith. Heinemenn - 1960. London.
A General History of Nursing by Lucy Ridgely Seymer. Faber and Faber Ltd. 1956.London.
New publication reviewed in this weeks Nursing Standard looks interesting; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celebrating-Nurses-History-Christine-Hallett/dp/0956438202/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I12YPFIKA94I4R&colid=1F1LTJCIDIM5S
Just in case people haven't seen this recent RCN publication it is certainly worth a look.Nicely illustrated including a few pictures of Queen's Nurses' badges( A Nice Edinburgh District Queens Nurse Badge), it focusses upon oral histories of community nursing.A paperback of 44 pages it is available from the RCN and costs £5
http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/336255/003582.pdf
Message for Jock57 - I worked in School of Nursing in Basingstoke 1990-92 and did some teaching at Park Prewett,some real old characters amongst the patients (and Staff!!).Most of the site now a huge housing estate,drove through it last week,horrible not seeing all the old familiar landmarks.