Blog
21
blog posts
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30 Jul 2026
60 years and £300,000 for Ty Maeth: What a bargain
60 years since the opening of the RCN headquarters in Wales, an exhibition was created to highlight the achievements of the people of Wales in raising funds to support Ty Maeth. The building’s name is translated as “House of Nurture”, and it is located at the Cardiff University Health Park Campus which was also under development in the 1960s. The exhibition is open until October 2026. As a result of coincidence, I appeared on daytime television being interviewed by Eric Knowles for the Bargain Hunt programme. Shown in March 2026 and available on BBC iPlayer.
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17 Jul 2026
The importance of Remembrance
In this Blog, Claire reflects on her visit to the Thiepval Memorial in France and remembering the 110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.
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9 Jun 2026
Matron Mrs Sophia Hogg: an advocate for mid-19th Century nursing
The focus of this blog is Matron Mrs. Sophia Hogg and her role in establishing skilled nursing at Reading’s Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) between 1839-1846. Information in this blog was obtained from the RBH archive which provided an invaluable insight into nursing during Mrs. Hogg’s time.
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5 May 2026
Volunteering in the RCN Archives - the frequent journeys ‘Down a rabbit hole’
This blog reflects on the role of being a volunteer for several years in the RCN Archives, 42, South Oswald Road, Edinburgh. It looks at what it is like to volunteer in a department which is focused on preserving and enhancing the history of the RCN and the new skills which can be learned in this role.
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5 May 2026
Find the History of Nursing Forum at RCN Congress 2026
How members can meet our History of Nursing Forum voting member at Congress Victoria Sweetmore, attend our event and find out more about our Forum.
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13 Apr 2026
From the Archives: The voice of the expert?
This blog series delves into the oldest of the RCN’s historical book collection, exploring the ways in which nursing was taught in the past. ‘A Complete System of Nursing ‘and ‘Practical Nursing’ are two contrasting texts by a nurse and doctor ‘experts’ whose names would have been known to hundreds of aspiring nurses in the early 20th Century.
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1 Apr 2026
‘The Lady with the Lamp’ – how the 1950s Ladybird book shaped children’s perceptions of nursing.
This blog reflects on how the mid 20th-century Ladybird book on Florence Nightingale shaped a simplified, romanticised version of Nightingale’s story for generations of children. It argues the book reinforced narrow 1950s ideas about gender, class, and who counts in history, leaving out other notable nurses and presenting nursing as young women’s work.
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21 Jan 2026
From the Archives: Are nursing textbooks useful or wise?
This blog series will delve into the oldest of the RCN’s historical book collection, exploring the ways in which nursing was taught in the past. Herbert E Cuff’s 1896 ‘Lectures on Medicine to Nurses’ is one such example.
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21 Jan 2026
Wikipedia as a platform for engagement: widening public knowledge of Scottish nurses
In this blog Sue shares fascinating examples of some of the nurses she has ‘met’ through the ‘Nurses in Red’ project, with a focus on Scottish nurses.
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10 Nov 2025
Remembering nurses awarded the Royal Red Cross in World War Two for exceptional devotion and bravery
Over a thousand UK and Commonwealth nurses received the Royal Red Cross Award in World War Two. The citations for the award reveal their bravery but also the horrors of nursing in wars.
