Letter from the Adviser

My appointment as Adviser to the History of Nursing Society coincides with a new era for the society, a new committee will be appointed over the coming months in accordance with the RCN’s new governance structure.

These changes will benefit the society, linking it to the RCN’s research and development work and opening up opportunities for collaboration between the archives and the members of the society.

The work of the archives has always involved the promotion of history of nursing to members of the profession and non members.
When I started as Archivist at the RCN in 1986, I knew very little about the history of nursing. Being the first archivist I had the privilege of organising the archives.

My mentor was Monica Baly, the founder of the History of Nursing Society, the editor of the society’s journal, and the inspiration behind the creation of the post of archivist.

From the start I found the history of nursing fascinating. I fell in love with the inspiring women who founded the College, those pioneers who took on the government, the medical profession and the registration campaigners (led by Mrs Bedford Fenwick), and this led me to write my first book The battle of the nurses (1992).

I worked closely with Monica during the 1980s and 1990s and we often spoke about the need for a history of the RCN.
It was not until after Monica’s death in 1998 that we got the funding from the RCN and the Wellcome Trust to start researching and writing that history.

We started in 2004, and the three year project lengthened into four years; the book, A history of the Royal College of Nursing 1916-1990: a voice for nurses, was published in 2009.  

In 1991 the Archives moved to Edinburgh where we have a purpose built office and storage facilities at the RCN’s headquarters in Scotland. Many researchers enjoy visiting Edinburgh to use the archives but for others, particularly those in the south of England, we are increasingly making the archives available in the library at RCN headquarters in London.

We look forward to working with the members of the society in different ways, such as oral history, exhibitions, workshops, cleaning books and papers, and identifying and researching objects in the RCN heritage collections.