Photo album

A scrapbook of yesteryear. Pinafores starched so stiffly they could stand alone! Nursing dorms, diplomas, aprons, bibs and collars rubbed with soap; black stripes; clinical duty, accidents, adventure, dreams.

This is the Nursing School where I took my three year diploma training. Formerly the hospital itself, now it had been renovated to house the dormitory on the upper three floors and the classrooms and a recreation room on the ground level. I was a Freshman when this photo was made, and I hadn't yet received my cap. I'm on the bottom right row of seven girls. I'm third from the left.

This is me at our Capping Ceremony, and boy was I proud! The Capping Ceremony was the crowning touch of every Student Nurse's Freshman year. We had to serve our clinical duty at the hospital "bareheaded" for several months before our capping, and we really felt we had earned those caps! We received one stripe to place on the left side of our caps during our Freshman year. Near the beginning of our Junior year we were given a second stripe, and as we entered our Senior year we held our heads high with three stripes on our caps.

This photo was made about twelve weeks after the accident that crushed my jaw at the beginning of my Junior year. (See The Little Things in our 'On Patches and Bears' website.) Although I look fat in this photo due to the swelling in my face that had not completely gone away yet, I weighed barely over a hundred pounds. I had been unable to eat solid food because I had just gotten the wires off that had held my teeth clamped shut for 10 weeks while my mandible healed.

Our Uniforms

Our uniforms were laundered by the hospital. The loose fitting dress had tiny blue and white checks. The pinafores were in two pieces. They were stiffly starched and pressed flat, and we fastened the bib and apron together with button links or plastic studs the night before we were to wear them. They were so stiff they could literally stand up by themselves!

We also fastened the stiff white collar to the soft cotton dress, thus changing it from a soft comfortable garment to a miserable stiff binder around our necks. We rubbed bar soap along the fold of the collar where it would be next to our necks. This helped to lessen the friction so our necks were not rubbed raw.

Next morning we crossed the pinafore straps in the back of our uniforms and fastened them to the waist band with more studs or links, and the waistband fastened in the back by the same method. Once our armour was donned, we were off for an adventurous day of working and learning!

Graduation! Finally I had earned the coveted black stripe all the way across the front of my cap. Now all I had to do was pass State Boards, and I would be an R.N. I headed out to chase my dreams!

Nurse's Duties in 1887