LUNCH WITH BOOKS LIVESTREAM: Celebrating Nurses: A Visual History for National Nurses Week

May 11, 2021
12:00pm - 1:00pm

In celebration of National Nurses Week (and Month), and in honor of those on the front lines, we will be joined, live from the U.K. by Dr. Christine Hallett, Ph.D., a Registered Nurse and the Director of the Center for the History of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Manchester, U.K. Dr. Hallett is the author of the book, Celebrating Nurses: A Visual History. This refreshing narrative history of nursing marks an exception to standard, often dry academic descriptions of the nursing profession. It presents dramatic, highly readable illustrated stories of nursing's pioneering, often heroic leaders.

Today's program will begin with a tribute to the Nurses of Wheeling. Don't miss the current Nurses Exhibit at the Library featuring nursing artifacts from Wheeling Hospital, City Hospital/Ohio Valley General Hospital, and Haskins Hospital (more info about the exhibit below). Were you a nurse at one of these hospitals or did you have a nurse in your family who worked at one of these facilities? Perhaps you could help us solve one of May's "History Mysteries" which feature unidentified nurses and nursing students in Wheeling hospitals (also see below for more information). 

This program will be available to watch live on Facebook Live, on YouTube, and on the OCPL website's LWB Livestream page.  Log into your Facebook or YouTube account during the program to leave questions for Dr. Hallett in the comments box. She will answer them during the live broadcast. 

PRESENTER BIO: Dr. Christine Hallett is Professor of Nursing History at the University of Huddersfield, Chair of the UK Association for the History of Nursing, and President of the European Association for the History of Nursing.  She is a trained nurse and health visitor, and holds PhDs in both Nursing and History. 

Her main research focus for the last ten years has been on the work of nurses during the First World War.  Among her publications are: Containing Trauma: Nursing Work in the First World War Second Edition (Manchester University Press, 2011); Veiled Warriors: Allied Nurses of the First World War (Oxford University Press, 2014); Nurse Writers of the Great War (Manchester University Press, 2016); and Nurses of Passchendaele (Pen and Sword Books, 2017).  Christine edited Routledge's Four-Volume Themes in Health and Social Care: The History of Nursing (London and New York, Routledge, 2015) and is currently one of the editors of the Manchester University Press Nursing History and Humanities monograph series.  She was awarded the Lillian Sholtis Brunner Fellowship by the University of Pennsylvania in 2009, and the Barbara Brodie Fellowship by the University of Virginia in 2010. 

Christine has undertaken extensive work as an expert consultant; she has acted as historical adviser to the BBC (2013-14), the Royal College of Nursing (2009-13), the Florence Nightingale Museum (2010) and the National Trust (2014).  In 2018, she was historical consultant to Eldorado Films and Pennsylvania State University, supporting the development and production of a series of films on the First World War funded by the National Cemetery Administration, US Department of Veteran's Affairs.  Christine holds Fellowships of the Royal Society of Medicine, UK, and the Royal Society for the Arts, UK.

FEATURED BOOK: Celebrating Nurses: A Visual History, by Dr. Christine Hallett, Ph.D. 
[Reserve copy from the Library | Purchase on Amazon] 

This refreshing narrative history of nursing marks an exception to standard, often dry academic descriptions of the nursing profession. It presents dramatic, highly readable illustrated stories of nursing's pioneering, often heroic leaders. Following an account of early nineteenth-century nursing practice during the Napoleonic Wars, the book goes on to highlight the life and work of Florence Nightingale who, in the 1850s, elevated nursing to a respected branch of medicine when she served on the Crimean War's battlefields. Also chronicled are the contributions to nursing by Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, and the poet Walt Whitman during the American Civil War. Surgical nursing first became important in the late nineteenth century, following discoveries by Robert Koch in Germany and Louis Pasteur in France of germ theory and infection control. Early twentieth-century accounts chronicle the origin of public health services, and include the story of Adelaide Nutting, the world's first professor of nursing at Columbia Teacher's College in New York. Here too is the story of Edith Cavell, who was executed for helping Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during World War I. Nursing's contributions during World War II, as well as in the Korean and Vietnam wars are also described in several vivid accounts. A concluding chapter explains how twenty-first-century nursing has expanded to cover many duties that were once the responsibility of junior doctors.

NEW ARCHIVING WHEELING POST: Angels of the Wards: All-Star Nurses of Wheeling

Throughout its storied history, Wheeling has been blessed with the dedicated service of numerous brave and caring nurses. In recognition of National Nurses Month and Week, Archiving Wheeling  presents a sampling of just a few notables among these front line “Angels of the Wards.”

➤ Read the  full story online 

NURSES MONTH EXHIBIT AT THE LIBRARY

Now housed in the Archives of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, several artifacts from Cecilia Coyne’s nursing career, including a uniform, cape, hats, and several photographs, are on exhibit at the Ohio County Public Library. The exhibit also includes artifacts from the career of Nurse Eleanor Brzozowski DiProsperis, as well as several artifacts from the Ohio Valley Medical Center School of Nursing Collection, 1860-1988, now housed in the library archives. Read the Archiving Wheeling "Angels of the Wards" blog post to learn more about these women. 

HELP US SOLVE MAY HISTORY MYSTERIES: Nursing Edition

Do you recognize any of these people? These are all historic photos of Wheeling people, places, and things that need to be identified. Weelunk, Archiving Wheeling, and the Ohio County Public Library Archives have teamed up to reach out to Wheeling area residents or people that have lived in the Wheeling area at any time—we need your help identifying the individuals in these photos.

This is an ongoing monthly project to connect today’s Wheeling community to its historical resources and stories. In honor of National Nurses Month, our May History Mystery selections feature nurses from the Ohio Valley Medical Center and Wheeling Hospital.

Nurses and nursing students in front of bulletin board featuring the Nightingale Pledge, Ohio Valley General Hospital, 1960s (OCPL Archives – Ohio Valley Medical Center School of Nursing collection). Do you recognize any of these women?

The Ohio Valley Medical Center School of Nursing collection includes artifacts and documents that were used in the historical displays at the hospital, such as brochures, photographs, medical equipment, yearbooks, awards, and other material. Many of the photographs correspond to those featured in the yearbooks, but many are unidentified. Can you help us identify these students? Email us.

The above photograph is just one of five photos featured in this month's Wheeling History Mysteries. View the Weelunk post to see all five photos: Solving History’s Mysteries: Nurses Edition.

VIEW ALL OF OUR WHEELING HISTORY MYSTERIES:
➤ May 2021: Help Us Solve Wheeling's History Mysteries: Nurses Edition
➤ April 2021: Help Us Solve History’s Mysteries: Baseball Edition
➤ March 2021: Help Us Solve History’s Mysteries: Women's History Month Edition
➤ February 2021: Help Us Solve History’s Mysteries: African American History Month Edition

Lunch With Books Livestream starts at noon on Facebook and YouTube.

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"Lunch With Books" is the library’s flagship program for adult patrons. These lunchtime programs feature authors, poets, musicians, historians, and more every Tuesday at noon. Bring lunch (to your computer), feed your brain!