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1890s Hamilton School of Nursing Graduates

Privacy Level: Open (White)
Date: 20 Apr 2022 [unknown]
Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canadamap
Profile manager: Mark Suggitt private message [send private message]
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Contents

the project

This is a group study project to document the nurses from graduating classes of Hamilton General Hospital, School of Nursing, 1891-1889. Two nurses graduated in 1891. My great grand aunt Mary Carr Johnston graduated sometime 1886-1888.

This project is part of a broader group of projects which at this time entail (links below):

  • Canada’s Nursing Sisters C.A.M.C serving 1914-1918; up to 4,000 Canadian nurses enlisted in the Canadian Army Medical Core and serving overseas during the Great War; all individuals and complete military records are available at the Great War Project;
  • Nurses identified on the “Famous Canadian Women” website; some 200 individuals with short descriptive paragraphs of their work; there is a small overlap with the above projects;

scope

Each nurse will be researched in publicly available vital records, eg Census/marriage/death, and at minimum attempt to identify their parents, spouse and children; a biographical description will be prepared outlining their lives and work; the research will be published on public family research platforms and each nurse will have a profile sheet prepared as part of a graduating year class book — printed book to be provided to HGH-SON for their archives, and a PDF archive and original files donated for future printing.

All the work is voluntary and open to anyone with an interest in the subject. The benefits are to the living descendants of these women to help in their own family research, also to the nurse alumni association by contributing to their history to existing collections, and helping draw attention to their collective history. The work will also be a model for other nursing school alumni to do the same.

materials

The research will draw from publicly available vital documentation. Family research platforms include a mix of paid subscription and free to public; Paid services are Ancestry.ca, Findmypast.com; free to public services include Wikitree.com, familysearch.org, findagrave.com, Library & Archives Canada, and numerous regional and local repositories. A topic-area bibliography will provide a starting point for physical media and will be added to as new resources are identified. An online project page hosted at Wikitree will summarize and coordinate volunteer work and include a list of graduate names; as research on each nurse is completed their name will link to their full profile page, and a return link will point back to the research page.

methods

In general, an attempt will be made to identify existing genealogy, first at Ancestry.ca, then familysearch.org; if nothing is found then searches for the person in vital documents available at the above services and a profile built from that. Parents, spouses, and children are often readily identified once vital records are found. A profile will be built for each person, with sources and a descriptive text of their family and life; the profiles will be added to a Wikitree profile page online where it will be linked to other family member profiles. Where graduates cannot be found in documentation, their name will remain in the lists.

Estimate 12 nurses graduating each year, on average, the eight years between 1891 and 1899 would total about 100 individuals. The target years will highlight these early nurse trailblazers, with a reasonable number of people for the scope of this work. Where vital documentation is readily available and where children are documented they are also substantially removed from living relatives as to not risk privacy.

The structure is open-ended, inviting other researchers to contribute. The final product of this work is a permanent project page, and permanent individual profile pages on the Wikitree genealogy platform. Also, documented individual profiles on the FamilySearch platform. A printed booklet for each graduate year containing as complete a record as possible, the group total of which can be compiled into a single decadal book of all graduate nurses of HGHSON, 1891-1899.

The model can be easily replicated for other early schools of nursing.

Notable individuals will inevitably emerge, for example those who continued education at university level, served in military, provided leadership in the field. The overall intent is all early nurse graduates be remembered and be given equal footing.

preparation

Need a proper history of Hamilton General Hospital School of Nursing, description of curriculum, duties and conditions of student nurses. Need a paragraph description of the history and context of nursing in Canada and career realities following graduation with a bibliography of sources. Other artifacts specific to HGHSON include uniforms and example of graduate pins and diplomas.

Develop a proposal for the project for the purpose of defining scope and introduction to interested parties. Include three sample profiles of nurse graduates: Wikitreee profile, printed profile and example of what a class booklet might look like.

Initial project is to document the nurses who graduated with Mary Carr Johnston (1886?87?). Need a class photo, separate portraits if possible, names and any biographical material. Each would get an entry in Wikitree and spouses and children identified. Expanded project would repeat the first project for other graduate classes 1891-1899.

Further expansion project is open to other nurse alumni associations to emulate.

links

primary sources:

secondary sources:

books & articles:

  • book: WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.
  • article: Hamilton Spectator …archive room at hamilton general hospital
  • book: Mansell, Diana J. Forging the Future: A History of Nursing in Canada. Ann Arbor, MI: Thomas Press, 2003.
  • book: Gibbon, John Murray, and Mary S. Mathewson. Three Centuries of Canadian Nursing. Toronto: Macmillan, 1947.
  • book: Coburn, Judi. “‘I See and Am Silent’: A Short History of Nursing in Ontario.” In Women at Work: Ontario, 1850-1930, eds. Janice Action, P. Goldsmith, and B. Shepard. Toronto: Canadian Women’s Educational Press, 1974.
  • paper: Allemang, Margaret. Canadian Nursing Sisters of World War I: Their Lives and Experiences in a Changing Society. In Proceedings of the Canadian Association for the History of Nursing Conferences, 1988 and 1990. Calgary/Charlottetown: Canadian Association for the History of Nursing, 1988/90: 268-72.
  • book: Nicholson, Gerald W.L. Canada’s Nursing Sisters. Toronto: Samuel Stevens Hakkert, 1975.
  • book: Sherrell Leetooze, WWI Nursing Sisters of Old Durham County, Published by Lynn Michael-John Associates, Bowmanville, 2014, 180 pages; Global Genealogy;
  • book: Coburn, Judi. “I See and Am Silent’: A Short History of Nursing in Ontario.” In Women at Work: Ontario, 1850-1930, eds. Janice Action, P. Goldsmith, and B. Shepard. Toronto: Canadian Women’s Educational Press, 1974.
  • Museum of Civilization - Select Bibliography of Nursing in Canada

Nursing Schools

  • Hamilton City Hospital Nursing School (Hamilton General Hospital), started 1889
  • General and Marine Hospital, St. Catharines, opened 1874, 1st in Canada
  • St. Catharines Training School and Nurses’ Home, Mack Training School for Nurses, St. Catherines, 1874
  • Winnipeg General Hospital Training School for Nurses, 1887, 2nd in Canada
  • Toronto General Hospital Training School for Nurses, started 1881
  • Montreal General Hospital School of Nursing, started 1890
  • St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing, Glace Bay
  • University of British Columbia School of Nursing
  • St. Boniface Hospital School of Nursing
  • Women’s College Hospital School of Nursing, started 1917
  • John H. Stratford Hospital School of Nursing, Brantford
  • Hôtel-Dieu de Québec Hospital School of Nursing, Quebec City
  • Prince Edward Island Hospital Montreal
  • Western Hospital School of Nursing
  • Calgary General Hospital School of Nursing
  • Toronto East General and Orthopaedic Hospital School of Nursing
  • Lady Stanley Institute School of Nursing
  • St Paul’s Hospital Training School for Nurses, Saskatoon, 1907-1969
  • Kingston General Hospital's School of Nursing
  • Royal Jubilee Hospital School of Nursing, Victoria, est 1891
  • ...

public recogition of nurses:

  • buildings
    • Anne Bailey Building, Kingston
    • The Helen Glass Centre for Nursing , University of Manitoba
    • Hersey Pavilion (Mabel Hersey), Montréal, Québec
    • ...
    • ...
  • ships
    • HMCS Margaret Brook
    • ...
    • ...

ToDo:

Wikitree category additions:

  • create Canadian Nursing Schools Category, subcategories for each school
  • Wikitree project page for nursing schools in Canada
  • project page for each School with history, related books, articles, links etc attached to the school
  • produce new wikipedia page for each school
  • list of graduate nurses for each year up to 1930 (current - 92 years per census publication in Canada)
  • new subcategory for Nursing Sisters under Canadian Army Medical Core
  • list of books published by any Nursing School




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