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School of Nursing Records

A description of its records at the Syracuse University Archives

Summary

Creator: Syracuse University. -- School of Nursing.
Title: School of Nursing Records
Dates: 1873-2002
Size: 55 boxes, 4 loose volumes and 4 wrapped packages (44.25 linear feet)
Abstract: The Syracuse University School of Nursing Records contain administrative materials that document the origin and history of the school.
Language: English
Repository: University Archives,
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries
222 Waverly Ave., Suite 600
Syracuse, NY 13244-2010
https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center/university-archives

Historical Note

The School of Nursing had its origins in the nursing school of the Hospital of the Good Shepherd, which was founded in 1887. The hospital and the school came under the control of Syracuse University's College of Medicine in 1915. In 1943, Chancellor William P. Tolley directed Edith H. Smith to establish a Syracuse University School of Nursing due to the wartime call for nurses. Smith, a graduate of Stanford and Columbia Universities, served in the Navy Nurses Corps during World War I. She later worked as a teacher in the nursing division of the League of Red Cross Societies. In a 1963 address commemorating the 20th anniversary of the school, Smith reflected on the early days of the program, saying, "My office was the diet laboratory in the basement of Memorial Hospital, and my desk was a kitchen stove. There was no school bulletin, no equipment, no letterheads, no program. We had to proceed and organize to proceed at the same time."

Photograph of Cadet Nurses with Admiral Nimitz

World War II shaped the early years of the new school. Within a week of its opening, Congress passed the Bolton Nurse Training Act, which created the Cadet Nurse Corps. In this program, students received subsidized tuition in exchange for active war service upon completion of the program. In response to this act, Smith planned an accelerated nursing program that would prepare students to quickly enter war service, condensing a 36-month program into a 30-month period. She strongly encouraged the students to return to the school to complete the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program after their war service was completed. Additionally, in the first year of the program, Chancellor Tolley offered scholarships to Japanese American students in internment camps to attend Syracuse University, a decision that caused widespread controversy. Dean Smith admitted six of these students into the nursing program.

Syracuse University's School of Nursing continued to grow after World War II. Due to its success during the war, the Hospital of the Good Shepherd and Syracuse Memorial Hospital’s schools of nursing were absorbed by the Syracuse University program. These programs donated all of their library materials to Syracuse University. In 1949, only six years after the program was founded, the National Committee for the Improvement of Nursing ranked the program in the top twenty-five percent in the nation. Dean Smith retired in 1957, and in 1959, Gladys Van Benschoten became the second dean of the Nursing School. During her tenure, she was an advocate for nurse participation in the development of health planning and legislation at the state and national levels. In 1972, she retired and Sybil Norris served as interim dean until Dr. Thetis Miller Group was named third dean in 1975. Dean Group's primary goal was to increase the visibility of the school by encouraging research and publication by students and faculty. Group changed the name of the school from the “School of Nursing” to the “College of Nursing” to distinguish it from shorter certificate programs offered at other schools.

Photograph of a Student Nurse with a Young Patient

Upon Dean Group's retirement, Cecilia Taylor served as acting dean until appointment of fourth Dean Grace Chickadonz in 1987. Upon her resignation in 1998, Cecilia Mulvey, Kay Wiggins, and Maureen Thompson served as interim deans for short periods. In 2001, the College of Nursing was incorporated into the School of Human Services and Health Professions, and the name was changed back to School of Nursing. Maureen Thompson became the Director of the School of Nursing, serving under the dean of the School of Human Services and Health Professions.

In addition to rigorous programs of study, many student nurses were involved in student organizations and activities. Syracuse Memorial Hospital’s nursing honor society, the Agenda Society, was adopted by Syracuse University as its first nursing honorary. In 1959, Syracuse University was accepted into Sigma Theta Tau nursing honorary as the Omicron Chapter, and the Agenda Society was retired. In the 1980s, the Minority Nursing Student Organization was founded. It was replaced by The Association of African American, Latina, Hawaiian, Asian and Native American Nurses Association (AALHANA) in the mid-1990s. Students also had the opportunity to participate in a "semester away" program, working in a health care facility in another city.

The School of Nursing was located in several different buildings over its 63-year history. From 1946 to 1952 classes were held in the War Department Building, a two-story building on Irving Avenue which was demolished in 1952 to make room for the new Veterans' Administration Hospital. Classes were then moved to a small, one-story prefabricated building at 103 Waverly Avenue. This building housed offices, seminar rooms, classrooms, and a nursing arts laboratory. The building was intended to be a temporary space for the school, but was used for twenty years. In the early 1970s, the school was moved to 426 Ostrom Ave.

Despite a national nursing shortage that drove increased enrollment at many public nursing schools, enrollment in Syracuse University's nursing program dropped by almost 70 percent from 1980 to 1990. Citing declining enrollment and financial issues, the University administration closed the School of Nursing in 2006.

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Scope and Content Note

The School of Nursing Records comprise materials from the founding of the Hospital of the Good Shepherd until the final years of the School of Nursing. The files of the deans of the School of Nursing, including Edith Smith and Gladys Van Benschoten, include accreditation reports, curriculum materials and faculty committee minutes. Additionally, the records contain various publications, including issues of the Syracuse University Nurses and Hospital of the Good Shepherd Alumnae Associations' newsletters and School of Nursing bulletins. The collection holds course descriptions dating from the 1940s to the 1960s, as well as records of the Hospital of the Good Shepherd Nurses Alumnae Association and correspondence from the World War II Cadet Nurse program. Three scrapbooks can be found in the School of Nursing Records, which date from 1962 to 1976.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The collection is currently unprocessed and not available for research.

School, college and department records are restricted to the office of origin for 30 years. Faculty personnel files are restricted for 80 years from date of separation from the University.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from the Syracuse University Archives and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

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Related Material

The Syracuse University Archives also holds photographs and clipping files related to the school, students, and faculty.

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Selected Search Terms

Names

Chickadonz, Grace.
Group, Thetis M.
Smith, Edith H.
Tolley, William Pearson, 1900-1996.
Van Benschoten, Gladys.
Syracuse University -- History.
Syracuse University School of Nursing.
Syracuse University.

Subjects

National Nursing Council for War Service.
Cadet Nurse Program (U.S.)
Nursing schools -- Administration.
Nursing schools -- History.
Nursing schools -- New York (State)
College teachers.
Higher education.
Nurses.

Types of material

Correspondence.
Scrapbooks.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

School of Nursing Records,
University Archives,
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Most of the materials in this collection were received from the Office of the Dean of the School of Nursing and were deposited in the Archives over several years, from the 1960s to the 1980s. Records from the Nurses Alumnae Association of the Hospital of the Good Shepherd were donated to the Archives in 1964 and 1969 by Elsa Krumman. In 1984, the Archives received student records from the Hospital of the Good Shepherd. The School of Nursing Records also contain materials donated by Frank Marini (1972), Winonah M. Walker (1980), Dawn and Gerry Sayre (1996), and Bobbi Harris (2002).

Processing Information

This collection has not been processed.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: Katie Swingly
Date: 2015
Revision history: 2016 - Reference materials added to collection and finding aid updated (AES); 2022 - Restriction added (HVA)

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Inventory

An inventory is not available for this collection. Please contact the Syracuse University Archives for more information.

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