BOOK CHOICE: SUSAN McGANN, RCN Archivist, gives us a preview of an upcoming publication that deserves a place on every nurse historian's bookshelf.
A voice for nurses: a history of the Royal College of Nursing 1916-1990
This year sees the publication by Manchester University Press of a history of the Royal College of Nursing, funded jointly by the Wellcome Trust and the RCN. It has been researched and written over four years by myself and my colleagues, Anne Crowther, Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow, and Dr Rona Dougall.
The book is a study of how the RCN changed over the years in response to new circumstances. Starting in 1916 with a small group of mainly middle class and general trained nurses, they struggled to be heard by the government, hospitals and the medical profession.
The founders identified two areas of immediate concern for a professional organisation of nurses - education and working conditions - and they believed these issues were linked, as the economic status of nurses was dependent on their level of training and professional knowledge.
Enter the NHS
World War II and the introduction of the NHS marked a turning point in the RCN's development, offering opportunities to increase its influence and membership. This process led to the opening up of the membership to male nurses and nurses of all specialties, and laid the foundations for it becoming a mass trade union in the 1970s.
The RCN's history is not just part of the history of the nursing profession, but also of gender and labour history. We considered all these areas along with the influence of nursing on health care in the United Kingdom.