On 5 September 2022, I made my first trip to the archives in Edinburgh for over three years. Having been closed over the pandemic, I think I have been one of the first researchers to be given the opportunity to access this marvellous resource.
The RCN archives are probably the foremost nursing archive in Europe and certainly match any nursing archive I have visited across the globe. It is not possible for me to describe the breadth and depth of their holdings. However, I can say that I have been using the archives in Edinburgh since my PhD studies at the end of the last century. I have used the archives of the RCN's own Education Department, work related to the history of older adult nursing, the history of nursing in the Second World War and most recently the history of those Jewish refugees who fled Nazi Europe and became nurses in Britain. As you can read, these topics demonstrate a broad range of research, so you can imagine the wealth of material available for researchers. The archives hold personal papers, institutional papers, an oral history collection and hard copies of a number of historic nursing journals, including the Nursing Times and the Nursing Mirror. Importantly for all researchers, these journals and several other titles are now digitised and will be available with your RCN membership - a truly fantastic resource.
For this trip I was reviewing the papers of Dr Lisbeth Hockey and Professor Annie Altschul. Both Hockey and Altschul were refugees from Nazi Austria. Altschul had been immersed in the Jewish community in Vienna, Hockey was not even aware of her Jewish heritage until the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938. It did not matter to the Nazi regime whether someone was a practising Jew or simply had a Jewish grandparent, all were Jews and all were under threat. Hockey and Altschul fled Austria in 1938 and entered the nursing profession in England shortly after arrival. There were few jobs that refugees were entitled to do, nursing was one and considered a more attractive opportunity to domestic service - the other choice. Both these women attained the highest positions in British nursing, Hockey became the first ever Director of Research, Altschul the first Professor of Mental Health nursing, both at the University of Edinburgh. Both left phenomenal legacies, which it is possible to understand thanks to the archives at the RCN.
My huge thanks to Fiona Bourne, Sophie, Neasa and Joshua - the archives team
The RCN archives are probably the foremost nursing archive in Europe and certainly match any nursing archive I have visited across the globe. It is not possible for me to describe the breadth and depth of their holdings. However, I can say that I have been using the archives in Edinburgh since my PhD studies at the end of the last century. I have used the archives of the RCN's own Education Department, work related to the history of older adult nursing, the history of nursing in the Second World War and most recently the history of those Jewish refugees who fled Nazi Europe and became nurses in Britain. As you can read, these topics demonstrate a broad range of research, so you can imagine the wealth of material available for researchers. The archives hold personal papers, institutional papers, an oral history collection and hard copies of a number of historic nursing journals, including the Nursing Times and the Nursing Mirror. Importantly for all researchers, these journals and several other titles are now digitised and will be available with your RCN membership - a truly fantastic resource.
For this trip I was reviewing the papers of Dr Lisbeth Hockey and Professor Annie Altschul. Both Hockey and Altschul were refugees from Nazi Austria. Altschul had been immersed in the Jewish community in Vienna, Hockey was not even aware of her Jewish heritage until the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938. It did not matter to the Nazi regime whether someone was a practising Jew or simply had a Jewish grandparent, all were Jews and all were under threat. Hockey and Altschul fled Austria in 1938 and entered the nursing profession in England shortly after arrival. There were few jobs that refugees were entitled to do, nursing was one and considered a more attractive opportunity to domestic service - the other choice. Both these women attained the highest positions in British nursing, Hockey became the first ever Director of Research, Altschul the first Professor of Mental Health nursing, both at the University of Edinburgh. Both left phenomenal legacies, which it is possible to understand thanks to the archives at the RCN.
My huge thanks to Fiona Bourne, Sophie, Neasa and Joshua - the archives team
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