Archives

Please contact these archives or visit their websites for further information on the collections listed below.

Adelphi University Archives

Founded on June 24, 1896, Adelphi University is the first institution of higher education on Long Island.  In 1944, Adelphi's School of Nursing was established in response to the pressing need for nurses created by the United States' entry into World War II.   Dr. Mildred Montag was the founder and Director of Adelphi College's School of Nursing, Garden City, New York from 1942 until 1948.  To mark the opening of two federally funded residence halls for women in the school of nursing, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt delivered an address at Adelphi entitled, "The Challenge of Nursing for Young Women Today."  Within five years, the School—one of the largest college-units of the United States Cadet Nurse Corps—graduated 500 nursing students into active service in the Corps and expanded the College's enrollment by 1,200 students.  Today, a full- and part-time faculty of 634 serves a student body of more than 7,700 undergraduate and graduate degree candidates on the main Garden City campus and at facilities in New York City, Hauppauge, and Poughkeepsie.

Titles:     School of Nursing Series:

Boxes 21-23  c. 1940s – 1990s.  c.2 cu. ft. The bulk of this series consists of photographs and newspaper clippings.  Many of the photographs are labeled and most are in sleeves. There are also other records including materials from and about alumnae reunions, copies of speeches and printed pamphlets from the School of Nursing.  There is also a biographical file on Mildred Montag, the first director of Adelphi University’s School of Nursing.

                Subject Files, 1943-1993. c. .5 cu. ft.

While located in Pennsylvania, the Center for the Study of the History of Nursing maintains collections of some individual nurses who were trained or employed as psychiatric nurses in New York State.  The collections they hold that are most relevant to the history of psychiatric/mental health nursing in New York are the papers of Claire M. Fagin, Dean of the School of Nursing of the University of Pennsylvania from 1977 through 1991; the papers of Dorothy Mereness, Head of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing at New York University from 1955 through 1965; and some papers pertaining to Hildegard E. Peplau, Director of the Graduate Program in Psychiatric Nursing at Teachers College, Columbia University from 1948 through 1954.  For more information on Hildegard Peplau please view the entry for the Schlesinger Library on page 28.

Bellevue Alumnae Center for Nursing History, Foundation of NYS Nurses

The Bellevue Alumnae Center for Nursing History is dedicated to preserving and promoting understanding of the profession's magnificent services to society.  Established in 1988 to ensure that the history of the nursing profession in New York State is preserved and understood, the Center maintains one of the largest collections of nursing history records and artifacts in the country.  In 2000, the Center was renamed the "Bellevue Alumnae Center for Nursing History" in recognition of the Bellevue Alumnae Association's gift of over one million dollars to endow the Center for Nursing History.  Many of the Center’s archives collections relate to psychiatric/mental health nursing.  Descriptions of some of those follow.  Please visit our web site for further information.

Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing was founded in 1873 and closed in 1969.  It was the first school in the United States patterned on Florence Nightingale’s principals of nursing education.  Nurses trained at the Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing took courses in and affiliated with hospitals that focused on psychiatric/mental health nursing.  The historical materials of the Bellevue School of Nursing Alumnae Association include records about and from alumnae (including many of the most influential nursing leaders) of the closed School of Nursing in New York, NY, photographs, student uniforms, and yearbooks.  Of particular interest are photographs of Bellevue Hospital and the School of Nursing over the course of the School’s history.  The alumnae papers also include information about military nursing in World War II, especially the papers of Thelma J. Ryan.  Coverage of the Mills School of Nursing (for male nurses) and the Bellevue School for Midwives is limited. 

The collection is divided into five series: Series 1, People; Series 2, Student Life; Series 3, Photographs; Series 4, Annual Reports; Series 5, Books.

As with other schools of nursing, nurses trained at the Ellis Hospital School of Nursing took courses in and affiliated with hospitals that focused on psychiatric/mental health nursing.  The Ellis Hospital School of Nursing in Schenectady, NY was founded in 1903 as the Schenectady Hospital Association’s Training School for Nurses.  The name was officially changed to the Ellis Hospital School of Nursing in 1958.  The first class was admitted in 1903, to graduate in 1906.  In 1906 Ellis Hospital moved from its Jay Street location (at the site of the present Schenectady City Hall) to the corner of Nott Street and Rosa Road.  At this time the hospital also constructed a residence for nursing students, Whitmore Home, and the following year the school was incorporated as department of Ellis Hospital.  Over the years the School of Nursing has had affiliations with various local colleges, initially with Union College, then with Russell Sage College, and finally with the Schenectady County Community College (SCCC).  It currently operates a joint 21-month Associate in Science degree program with SCCC.

The collection consists primarily of photographs, newspaper clippings, and scrapbooks about both Ellis Hospital and the School of Nursing. Many of the School’s records are still kept at the School of Nursing at 1101 Nott Street in Schenectady, NY.  Visit the school’s Web site for further information: http://www.ehson.org/

As with other schools of nursing, nurses trained at the Metropolitan Hospital School of Nursing took courses in and affiliated with hospitals that focused on psychiatric/mental health nursing.  In 1875, the Homeopathic Hospital (later to be called Metropolitan Hospital) was established by the New York Department of Public Charities and Correction.  It was established on Ward’s Island, opposite Manhattan Island.  From the beginning, Metropolitan Hospital has been affiliated with New York Medical College, and it is designated a university hospital.  This is one of the oldest American partnerships between a hospital and a medical school.  In 1892 a Training School for Nurses was organized at the hospital.

The Alumnae Association of Metropolitan Hospital School of Nursing has been active since 1903 and has been the group primarily responsible for preserving the history of the School.  Throughout the years, it has arranged for numerous publications concerning the School’s history and status.

Highlights of the collection include uniforms of former students of the School, a letter from Florence Nightingale which was presented as a gift to the School, and a film produced by the Alumnae Association.

The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA or the Association), the membership organization of registered professional nurses in New York state, designated the Foundation of New York State Nurses as the repository and curator of its archives in January 1987. Founded in 1901, and with a current membership of over 35,000 registered nurses, NYSNA is the country's oldest and largest state nurses association. These records constitute the largest collection maintained by the Center for History of Nursing.

The Association's founding and continuing goals are to protect the public and advance the profession of nursing. As a multi-purpose professional association, NYSNA has pioneered efforts in nursing legislation, nursing education, nursing practice, nursing research, the organization and delivery of nursing care services, collective bargaining and other economic and general welfare matters. NYSNA is a constituent member of the American Nurses Association (ANA). Nineteen separately incorporated NYSNA constituent district nurses associations provide services and leadership at the local level.

The Association's records pertain to all facets of its complex and extensive activities including its relationships with its district associations, the ANA, other state nurses associations, hundreds of other health related organizations, and thousands of individual nurses. The records contain a wealth of information on the genesis and evolution of nursing; the social and economic context of the health care delivery system; the changing role of women; labor relations in the health care industry; and ethical and legal issues in evolving health care delivery.

The St. Luke’s Hospital Training School for Nurses opened in 1888.  The history of the school goes back even further, to the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion, which was created in 1845 by the Rev. William Augustus Muhlenberg, D.D. (1796-1877).  This was a voluntary order affiliated with the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion whose members stayed in a nurses’ residence and cared for the poor and sick.  When Father Muhlenberg founded St. Luke’s Hospital in 1850 (54^th St. at Fifth Avenue) the Sisters took charge of the nursing in the hospital.

In 1896 the training period increased from 2 to 3 years and the School moved with the Hospital to its new location at Amsterdam and 113^th St.  As the number of graduates from the school grew, the School established a registry of graduates for private duty nursing to help meet the needs of both patients and nurses.  The Registry began in 1893 and in 1904 the recently created Alumnae Association of the St. Luke’s Hospital Training School for Nurses took over the management of the Registry.  The Alumnae Association was organized in 1897, and was incorporated on November 9, 1898.

In 1921, the course of study was shortened to 2 ½ years, but was increased again to three years in 1934 with the introduction of affiliations away from St. Luke’s Hospital.  Students could do affiliations in Neurological or Psychiatric Nursing, Communicable Disease, or Public Health Nursing. During World War II, enrollment increased due to the Cadet Nurse Corps program and many graduates served in the Army Nurse Corps. 

The St. Luke’s Hospital and the School of Nursing administration made the decision to close the School of Nursing in 1972 and last class was accepted.  This class graduated in 1974.  The Alumnae Association remains active today.

The historical materials of the St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae Association include administrative records from the closed School of Nursing, photographs, student uniforms, alumnae memorabilia (including the jukebox donated to the Nurses’ Residence by the Class of 1958), and newspaper clippings on the history of the school.  There are a few scrapbooks from nurses in WWI and other service abroad, and a fair amount of material documenting the history and content of the nursing curriculum at St. Luke’s, especially in the 1960s and early 1970s.  The materials preserved by the Alumnae Association are largely all that remain from the nearly nine decades of nursing education at St. Luke’s Hospital. There are also records from the Alumnae Association itself, including records of its incorporation, newsletters, photographs, and records of the organization’s activities since the closing of the school.

The collection is divided into five series: Series 1, History and Administration; Series 2, Student Life; Series 3, Alumnae; Series 4, Alumnae Association; Series 5, Books.

Central Islip Historical Society is a developing, all-volunteer organization with a mission to preserve the history of Central Islip.  Central Islip State Hospital was, for many years, the center of the town’s economic and social existence.  Many of the records held by the Central Islip Historical Society relate to the hospital and nurses who lived, worked and were educated on its campus.

Includes: Administrative records, artifacts, furniture, notebooks, photographs, publications, yearbooks.

The College of Staten Island Archives and Special Collections maintains a Researcher Guide to Resources on the Willowbrook State School on their website.  This Guide is an excellent source for researchers interested in psychiatric history, the history of Staten Island and medical and nursing history.

The Providence Retreat House, which was also known as the Buffalo Lunatic Asylum, Providence Lunatic Asylum and Providence Insane Asylum, was founded by Sister Rosaline Brown in 1860.  In 1894, affiliation with various schools of nursing began to create education in psychiatric nursing at the Providence Retreat.  Providence Retreat closed in 1943.  The Providence Retreat was unusual because it was founded and run by nurses.  Other records of the Providence Retreat are housed at the Sisters of Charity Hospital in Buffalo.  View the entry on page 7 for further information.
 

Includes:                Administrative records, biographies/histories, Board of Trustees minutes, correspondence, financial records, newspaper clippings, photographs, wills/deeds/title searches.

The Historical Society of Middletown gathers and preserves materials of this Hudson River Valley town and the surrounding area.  Among these are records relating to Middletown State Hospital.  See the entries on pages 5 and 26 for further information on records of the Middletown State Hospital and School of Nursing.

Includes: Annual reports, patient-written newspapers.

Records of the Mount Sinai Hospital School of Nursing.  Contact the library for further information.  For further information on Mount Sinai Hospital and School of Nursing, see the entry for Mount Sinai Medical Center on page 5.

As well as the records of the Cornell University- New York Hospital School of Nursing, which operated from 1877 until 1979, the archival records include medical case histories from the New York Hospital (1808-1932) and from the Lying-In Hospital (1891-1932) that show the changes in patient population and the changes in medical and nursing care over a period of 200 years.  The archives is a rich resource for women's history.  Women are documented as physicians, nurses, patients, administrators, and philanthropists who give time and money to help other women.  The education of health care professionals, and the formalization of medical education since our nation's start, can be studied using a variety of records.  The change from lay supervisors to medical administrators is well documented in the minutes and the legal and financial records of all the hospitals. 

Records of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute.  Contact the Institute for further information.

New York State Archives

The New York State Archives has created a Guide to Mental Health Documentary Sources in New York State, which is a must for any researcher interested in the history of the mental health field in New York.  The Guide lists records that would be of interest to a researcher of nursing history, including information on records of major hospitals and other mental health facilities in New York, health care employees’ union records, and psychiatric organizations.  It also includes archives collections in states other than New York.

To view the complete Guide visit: http://www.archives.nysed.gov/a/researchroom/rr_health_mh_recguide.shtml#Top

The New York State Archives holds the records of the New York State Office of Mental Health.  As the Office of Mental Health encompasses all of the large state psychiatric hospitals, this large and growing collection includes many records that relate to psychiatric/mental health nursing.  Listed are five series in the collection that would be of strong interest to someone researching this subject, but this list is by no means comprehensive.  As with other collections listed in this guide, many of these records fall under restrictions due to legal and privacy matters.  Please contact the New York State Archives for further information. 

In the following series descriptions, the number preceding the description of the records series is the internal call number for the New York State Archives.  This number has been provided to facilitate use of the catalog.

This accretion consists of official forms and administrative data documenting the admission, legal status, assessments, treatment planning, treatment and discharge of patients to the Buffalo State Hospital (later Buffalo Psychiatric Center). Casebooks (boxes 1-22) contain bound records pertaining to the admission and treatment of patients at the Buffalo State Hospital from 1881 to 1898. They range from case file #151 to #6449. Included are the official copies of medical certificates which were the evidence of lunacy that allowed commitment of patients to Buffalo. Admission records include patient and family histories and medical histories, and sumaries of medical and psychiatric examiniations given at admission. Records documenting patient life and care at Buffalo include correspondence between patient and family members, physician and nurse medical reports, summaries of physical and psychiatric examinations, laboratory test results, and information relating to patient discharge. The focus and amount of detail in the records vary over time. Records which cover the period 1889-1920 (boxes 23-99) consist solely of medical records pertaining to patient care at Buffalo. They range from volume number 51-405 (patient case #6456 to #16389). Black and white photographs of patients are included in later case files.

This series consists of registers and lists documenting operations performed on patients of Middletown State Hospital (and, as it was earlier known, Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital). Information is presented in columnar form. Volume 1 (1932-1956) and Volume 2 (1956-1962) are arranged alphabetically by patient's name and then in chronological order. Information includes: patient's ward; operation performed; names of surgeon performing operation, assistant surgeon, anesthesist, scrub nurse, and circulating nurse; whether the procedure performed was major or minor. Volume 3 (1956-1962) is arranged chronologically and, in addition to the information provided in the registers, includes: yearly operation number, method of anesthesic, induction, maintenance, time of operation, fluids given to patient, drugs given to patient, and post-operative condition.

These registers were maintained by staff of the State Lunatic Asylum (later the Utica State Hospital) for the purpose of recording patient admissions, discharges, and paroles. Earlier registers include records for both admissions and discharges for either men or women patients. Later registers record either admissions or discharges for either men or women. One register includes admissions for both men and women. Some dates (and events) are covered by more than one register. Information in the registers is recorded in columns and varies from register to register. The most complete information for patients is recorded in an earlier volume (admissions for men and women, 1873-1887) and includes name; date; total number (consecutive admission number); number for year; how sent (pauper, poor, or indigent); gender; age; civil condition; number of children; occupation; education; religion; habits; place of birth; residence; insane relations; alleged causes; form of disorder; accompanying bodily disorder; date of attack; duration before admission; number of previous admissions; age at first attack; time of leaving the asylum; time in asylum; result; and observations. Information recorded in other admission and discharge registers always includes patient name, date of admission or discharge, and county of residence. In addition, information usually includes to whom the patient was discharged; remarks; type of commitment or discharge order; and general condition when discharged. Information given may also include total number (consecutive admission number); number for year; ward number; first admission or readmission; type of financial maintenance; patient case book volume and page number; age; period of treatment; duration of symptoms previous to admission; form of insanity; and cause of death.

This series consists of ca. 4,500 photographs (black-and-white and color), ca. 9,000 negatives, ca. 1,900 slides, and ca. 275 lantern slides maintained at Willard Psychiatric Center. The images span the institution's evolution from the Willard Asylum, to the Willard State Hospital, to the Willard Psychiatric Center, and provide extensive visual documentation of almost every aspect of staff and patient daily activities, as well as special occasions. In addition to identification photographs, the records include scenes of recreation activities (such as parties, sporting events, and field days for patients and staff); committees; officials; classes; staff and patients in groups and individually; meetings; dining; ceremonies; patient therapy and rehabilitation training; treatments; staff training; receptions; holiday celebrations; entertainment; and visitors. Also documented are interiors and exteriors of buildings, grounds, and facilities, including maintenance, construction, and equipment.

The first record type in this series is night watch reports (December 1885-December 1886).These printed forms were completed each morning to record visits of the supervising nurse to sick patients at intervals during the previous night. Included are notes on patients' conditions; lists of excited and noisy patients; special incidents (usually notes of attendants' tardiness); and signature. The second record type is weekly ward inspections by assistant physicians (August 1890-August 1900). These are narrative observations and recommendations for improvement of a variety of conditions including fire hazards, cleanliness of facilities, and needed repairs. Areas of the hospital inspected include wards; dining rooms; hallways; stairways; storage areas; basements; and attendants' rooms in the Main Building and Detached Buildings 1, 2, 3, and 4.

This online timeline features information on the nurses of Staten Island University Hospital and North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health Systems.  Contact the hospital for further information.

Psychiatric nurse, educator and author, Hildegard Peplau received an EdD from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1953.  She served in the Army Nurses Corps from 1943 until 1945, as Director of the Graduate Program in Psychiatric Nursing at Teachers College, Columbia University from 1948 through 1954 and was a faculty member at the College of Nursing at Rutgers University from 1954 until 1974, becoming Chair of the Department of Nursing in 1960.  An advocate of professionalization and graduate education for nurses, and of the need for nurses to exercise therapeutic skills, Peplau was active in the leadership of many nursing and mental health associations, including serving as president of the American Nurses Association.

Includes: Professional correspondence; lecture, workshop and conference material; unpublished papers; speeches and articles; correspondence with publishers and journals; material from her teaching career including notes, student papers and administrative correspondence; her own student records, notes and papers; personal correspondence; diaries; photographs; biographical and genealogical information; awards; clippings; nursing publications and memorabilia.

Seneca Falls Historical Society gathers and preserves materials of Seneca Falls and the surrounding area.  The collections contain photographs of nurses at Willard State Hospital.

Includes: Photographs.

The Special Collections and Archives of the SUNY Health Sciences Center include historical records relating to the institution dating back to 1870, including records of the College of Nursing.  The Archives also includes collections in the history of medicine and subject files on historical medical figures and events in Central New York.  A complete finding aid of the archives collection is available on the library’s web site.

Includes: Announcement, Bulletins, program studies, program guides, nursing manual, procedures, photographs, scrapbook and report.

The archives of the Teachers College Library at Columbia University include historical records relating to Teachers College Nursing Education Division dating back to 1899  The Archives also includes manuscript collections of important nursing leaders in the history of nursing in New York State.  Following are series descriptions of those series which may be most interesting to a psychiatric/mental health nursing history researcher, but it is by no means comprehensive and the library should be contacted for further information.  Most of the records in the collection are made available on microfiche. 

This series covers the period from the department’s founding until the 1960’s and is relatively complete in documentation of all major developments.  These are primarily the administrative records of the day to day running of the department.  This series is divided into four subseries reflecting in changes in the Division over the years: Hospital Economics Course, 1899-1910; Division of Nursing Education, 1910-1947; Department of Nursing Education, 1947-1961; Department of Nursing Education, 1961-1982.

The Mary Adelaide Nutting Collection includes both the personal and professional papers of the first director of the Department of Nursing Education.  One of the pioneers in nursing, Nutting was primarily responsible for making the department a national and international center for nursing education.  She is generally considered to have been the first nurse to hold the academic rank of Professor.  This collection is divided into three subseries: Family Papers; Personal Papers; Subject Files. 

The R. Louise McManus Collection is primarily made up of papers from McManus’s time as head of the Department of Nursing Education from 1947 to 1961, but also includes some materials relating to her post-retirement activities.  This collection includes correspondence, department affairs (including a major curriculum revision), records from her consultation practice and her work with the Florence Nightingale International Foundation.

This series consists of records of two projects funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, United States Public Health Service.  The first project, “Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing- School Nurse Workshop,” provided workshops for school nurses in the area of mental health.  It includes administrative records, material from the workshops, and correspondence.  The second project, “The Role and Function of the School Nurse in Meeting the Emotional Health Needs of the School Age Population,” evaluated the Department of Nursing Education’s program for school nurses and identified the needs of school age children from kindergarten to sixth grade.  It includes administrative records, research findings, course material and the project’s final report.

Foundation of New York State Nurses
The Veronica M. Driscoll Center for Nursing
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Guilderland, New York 12084-9559
(518) 456-7858 . FAX (518) 452-3760

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Last revised: August 1, 2005.

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