RCN History of Nursing Lecture: "Into the Ring: the Rise of Unionism"
29 Oct 2026, 18:00 - 20:00
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Join us for the annual RCN History of Nursing Lecture, delivered by Professor Emeritus Sioban Nelson, on nursing's material culture.
Professor Sioban Nelson is a well-known nursing historian and policy scholar. In this talk, she will be presenting material from her current book project, “Object matters: A General History of Nursing Through Material Culture”. The book tackles the history of nursing through a series of objects from thirteenth-century hospital seals, to steamer trunks and boxing gloves.
“Into the ring: Industrial legislation, nursing professional associations and the rise of unionism among nurses in Denmark, Canada and the United Kingdom in the 1970s” will take as its starting point the boxing gloves of the prominent Danish nursing leader, Kirsten Stallknecht. It will examine rising militancy among nurses in the 1970s, and the diverse ways the UK’s Royal College of Nursing, Denmark’s Danish Nurses Organization, and Canada’s Registered Nurses Association of Ontario navigated the rapidly changing industrial climate of the era and the consequences for the nursing profession.
Image: The RCN's 'Pay Not Peanuts' campaign of 1979 (Nursing Standard)
This event is open to all and takes place in person.
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RCN Library and Museum
rcn.library@rcn.org.uk
0345 337 3368
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Page last updated - 28/05/2026
