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Temple-Episcopal Hospital School of Nursing Records
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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Barbara Bates Center for the Study of The History of Nursing [Contact Us]Claire Fagin Hall, 418 Curie Boulevard, Floor 2U, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-4217
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Barbara Bates Center for the Study of The History of Nursing. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Protestant Episcopal Hospital (“Protestant” would later be dropped from the name in 1946) began its long history on July 18, 1851, when a charter was issued for its creation. The hospital opened its doors for the first time on December 11, 1852. The idea for the hospital was developed by the Protestant Church as it recognized that the city and industry was expanding into the Northeast, which had few facilities or healthcare options for the new residents. The hospital itself has remained under the same control, except a brief time from July 1862 to March 1863 when the Federal Government borrowed the hospital to treat injured soldiers. Before a school of nursing was official established, nurses were unofficially trained at the hospital, although they received neither official recognition nor any endorsement from the hospital. The new Training School for Nurses was opened on January 9, 1888, and graduated eleven students. Originally it was a two-year program, however in 1898, it was lengthened to three years and remained that way until the school closed its doors in December 2009. Initially, as most early training schools of the late 1800s, enrollment was only for white, female students. In the 1940s, African-Americans and Asian-Americans were allowed to enter the program, and in 1962 the first male student was allowed in. During World War I, Episcopal was one of the hospitals (and schools of nursing) to organize a base hospital to provide care to the soldiers in Europe. Base Hospital 34 maintained its own identity, own personnel (including 65 Episcopal nurses), transportation and equipment to France, and cared for 1,000-2,000 patients under the nursing direction of Katherine Brown (who took a leave of absence from her role as Directress of the School).
The School of Nursing operated under the confines of the Episcopal Hospital for most of its existence. Around 1998, the school transferred control to Temple University Health Systems, whose authority remained in place until its closing in 2009. It was known was Temple University – Episcopal Campus. Throughout its years, though especially in the 1980s-1990s, the school was greatly concerned with maintaining its educational standards and program strength. It strove to remain a competitive program through investigating other hospital programs, evaluating the curriculum and seeking insight from the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing. The School of Nursing also maintained several affiliations including Kensington Hospital, Germantown Hospital, Chestnut Hill Hospital and Penn State. Until the late 1980s students could attend Episcopal courses on Penn State’s campus.
The Episcopal School was highly organized with various committees and sub-committees to maintain, develop, and improve the school. In 1951, Doris Mathis, superintendent of the school, guided the nursing program to be the first school of nursing to be accredited by the National League for Nursing. The 1980s and 1990s were years saturated with concern for curriculum reform, school organization, and faculty participation. This relates to years when there was a noticeable shift in student enrollment to college degree programs. Unfortunately lower enrollment in diploma programs eventually forces the program to close. The Alumnae Association, founded in 1901, remains active today.
Note: Early history based on Roberta West’s book History of Nursing in Pennsylvania, pages 674- 680
The Temple-Episcopal School of Nursing, Records is a collection acquired by the University of Pennsylvania, Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing between 2009 and 2010, with an additional accretion in 2012. The materials, arranged in twelve series with numerous subseries, helps shed light on the significant and impressive legacy of one of the earliest schools of nursing in Philadelphia and in the country.
Series 1 and 2 focus on the administrative documents of the School of Nursing. The first series explores Episcopal's advisory committees through their board minutes and financial responsibilities. The second series contains the annual reports produced by the School of Nursing.
The third series, one of the larger sections in the collection, sheds light on the faculty organization and its complex role in organizing and maintaining the nursing program and students throughout the years. This series consists mainly of minutes and files of standing and ad hoc committees chaired by various faculty members which dealt with a wide range of policy matters affecting the academic and social life of the School. This includes admissions, evaluation of the school, the faculty development, evaluation of students, curriculum review, and the library and visual aids.
In the fourth series, another significant part of the collection, the documents explore the curriculum files for classes years from 1977-2009. These files contain course material, course objectives, handouts, schedules, exams, as well as reading assignments and other related documents for a specific course.
Series 5 sheds light on the various affiliations Episcopal maintained during its existence. This includes the arrangement of its students to receive clinical training or take course work at other training sites. In addition this section explores the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing and the National League of Nursing (NLN). Documents for those two organizations include annual reports from Episcopal, correspondence, site visits made to the school, mailings, accreditations results, and other materials generated.
Materials in Series 6 focus on the activities performed by the Office of the Director. Broken into subseries (general files, reports, financial considerations, statistical information and survey responses, and the 90th and 100th Celebrations), these documents include correspondence about school activities, reports generated for various organizations, curriculum changes, grant funding, and faculty data. The 90th and 100th Anniversary celebrations includes congratulatory correspondence from local, state, and national politicians and institutions. The seventh series focuses on the final years of the Episcopal School of Nursing while it was governed by Temple University. Documents within this section are comprised of student handbooks, financial aid information (IPEDS surveys, federal aid eligibility, and other grants and scholarship information), and school closure reports. The last PN class graduated in 2007, with the final RN class (and last class of the School) graduating in December 2009.
Series 8 contains the printed materials produced for the school. This includes commencement programs, announcements and invitations (c. 1915-2009), catalogs and circulars of information, newspapers, other publications by the students, as well as hospital publications and pamphlets.
The documents within the ninth series either relate to the library and the archive they maintained on site or to the Nurses’ Alumnae Association. Materials shed light on the student and alumnae activities through annual reports, correspondence, newspaper clippings, show programs, collected histories, personal histories, and other items.
Series 10, the largest series of the collection, contains all the student files of the Episcopal School of Nursing. In addition, this section contains files for student at the Kensington Hospital for Women, Class of 1913-1931. Episcopal was given the student files to maintain after the school of nursing closed.
The second-to-last series (11) consists of all the photographs for this collection. Photographs include formal class pictures, graduation ceremonies, student images and dorm life, other school-related images, as well as a photograph album from a former student and a scrapbook of photographs of hospital and school of nursing staff in 1931. The final series, 12, contains the artifacts, which includes patches, caps, plaques as well as a Marvel Self-Heating Hot Bottle and a Haemometer.
For information regarding transcripts please visit: http://www.nursing.upenn.edu/history/center-services/student-transcripts/
Gift of Temple-Episcopal Hospital School of Nursing
This collection was processed in two different stages. The first stage was performed in 2009 as an internship project under the supervision of Gail Farr. In 2013 the collection processing began again under the duties of Jessica Clark. At this stage, the only remaining items left unprocessed are students that cannot be accessed by researchers until their designated release date.
In addition, the photographs with this collection are being identified and organized by two graduate nurses of Episcopal hospital, and are still being processed at this moment. Please contact the Bates Center for more information about the photographs.
Organization
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: Barbara Bates Center for the Study of The History of Nursing
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Finding aid prepared by Jessica Clark
- Access Restrictions
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Copyright restrictions may apply. Please contact the Center with requests for copying and for authorization to publish, quote or reproduce the material.
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This collection is open to the public unless noted otherwise at the request of the Donor or to protect individual personal information.
Student Records are closed for 50 years and designated as follows: Date of Records First Year of Access 2009-2000 2050 1999-1990 2040 1989-1980 2030 1979-1970 2020 1969-1960 2010
Collection Inventory
This committee was responsible for maintain the School of Nursing, including financials and academics. While there are only minutes from 1990-1995, this appears to be a continuing organization with a foundation date prior to 1990. There were seven members of this committee include the Director of the School of Nursing, with other members from various hospital heads of doctors, and some members of the Episcopal Board.
These minutes contain information regarding financial costs and budgets, course overviews and summaries, graduation, reports from various other committees as well as admission summaries amongst other things. This committee appears to be responsible for publishing and preparing the annual reports.
This committee seems to carry out the same function of the “School of Nursing Committee” though under a different title, perhaps changed in the years after 1989.
The Reports for the Episcopal Hospital School of Nursing includes the Annual Reports produced yearly depicting the activities, advances, and other related information about the School. In addition this series also contains the executive summaries, which focus more on the financial on goings and activities during the fiscal year.
The Episcopal Hospital School of Nursing Faculty Organization was established by 1974. This committee appears to have been created by the School of Nursing Committee, or at the very least responsible for reporting back to this broader committee. Though most documents are from 1980 onwards, there are 1974 documents indicate it was in existence prior to then though its established date is unknown. This series consists mainly of minutes and files of standing and ad hoc committees chaired by various faculty (not necessarily the Director of the School) which dealt with a wide range of policy matters affecting the academic and social life of the School. Members of this committee consisted of any faculty or employee that engaged in the education or policies of the School of Nursing. The Director of Nursing Education was the chairperson of the committee throughout the years. Every committee listed below is either a standing or ad hoc committee.
These are the Rules and Regulations for 1975, 1987 and 2000. This contains the functions of the Faculty Organization and its various standing committees. It also contains the membership outlines and other rules outlined by Articles, i.e. Article I, Article II, etc. [Photocopy]
The Faculty Organization held shared authority and responsibility for the operation of the school and its philosophy. It also offered the opportunity for faculty members to have leadership roles and participation in group decisions. They were authorized to create standing and ad hoc committees to perform the necessary duties for maintaining and promoting the School of Nursing. Some separate meetings were called for specific issues such as class evaluations, but mainly, there were standing meetings to discuss reports and other concerns. By the 2000s, faculty meetings were held less frequently then the weekly or monthly meetings of the previous years, sometimes as few as 3 meetings a year. Also by the 1990s, the Annual Faculty Workshop minutes were held within the Faculty Organization Committee minutes for the year. They were no longer contained separately from the rest of the committee’s work. While the primary function of the committee remained relatively consistent throughout the years, the later years were heavily saturated by quarterly or annual reports from its various sub-committees.
The documents in this section relate to the Faculty Manual [c.1975, 1997, 2004-2006]. It contains the policies of the school, primarily though not completely, in alphabetical order. Policies include dress code, student absent or ill day policy, mature student privileges, the faculty policy, etc. While there is only one manual, there are documents in later years that mention the continued use and updating of the faculty manual, suggesting other versions were used.
This contains documents related to or discovered with the Faculty Organization Committee minutes but are not a part of them. These are documents found in front or behind folders of the original binders of minutes. They do not relate to the content of the minutes themselves however were found amongst them. Many of them were found with the Faculty Manual.
This series contains the materials related to a legal suit filed by a former student. Documents include legal correspondence, trial documents, student communications, and trial preparations. Due to the personal information and private correspondence, this section will remain closed to researchers for 40 years.
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The Faculty Organization Committee was responsible for creating various sub-committees to perform various functions necessary to the evaluating, advancing, and maintaining the School of Nursing. This includes admissions, evaluation of the school, the faculty development, evaluation of students, curriculum review, and the library and visual aids. These standing committees reported back to the Faculty Organization for approval and discussion of their particular area of focus. There were several long-lasting standing committees and a few that were in practice for only a particular period of time.
The Faculty Organization appears to have organized the Annual Faculty Workshop Committee, where all faculty members were required to attend the two or three day conference. It seems that the committee predates 1984 however there are no records for it. This committee’s functions continue beyond 1986 but were included within the larger Faculty Organization. This committee created the schedule and maintained the minutes of the annual workshop where a review of the year occurred from various standing and/or subcommittees as well as other relevant programs or developments related to the faculty.
These minutes consists of the reports, hand outs, discussions and other relevant documents relating to the Faculty Annual Workshop. This also includes the report of the exit interview given to students following graduation. In the 1990s-2000s, the minutes of the Annual Faculty Workshop were not originally housed separately but within the Faculty Organization Committee. They remain arranged within the Faculty Organization Committee as they were originally.
[See also Series 151-4 Curriculum Files and Series 151-10 Student Files for additional student exit interviews]
This committee was established by 1975, though it seems to have been in operation before then. Members of this committee remained only slightly changed throughout the years to include the recruiter for the school, the Director of Nursing Education, Associate Director of Nursing Education, Coordinator of Student Services, Financial Aid Administrator, and three teaching faculty (by 2000 the Evening Program Coordinator replaced the Associate Director). This appears to be an ongoing committee though there is a gap between minutes. Throughout the years for which there are minutes, this primarily remains one committee.
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This committee was responsible for the recruitment program, the admission process, evaluating potential student application and grades, updating the accepted/rejected status and accepted/withdrawn status, as well as scholarships monies. There appears to have been a division of duties around 1992/1993 with admissions and recruitment holding separate meetings from the financial aid meetings, however they were remained housed together and generated reports as one committee. Even while under one title in the 1970s, there were specific meetings for financial discussions and were neither primary nor frequent topics within regular meetings. From 1987-1997 there were documents relating to open houses and graduated students and employer questionnaires contained within the larger committee. This section may be restricted as it contains personal information of students including grades, SAT scores, addresses.
This was an on-going committee established in 1991, which implemented the School’s dismissal policy as well as promoted and recognized achievements. This committee’s function was (to some degree) previously under the larger Faculty Organization. Membership included the Director of Nursing Education, all day and evening program (separated by division), the Evening Program Coordinator (evening) and the Administrative Assistant (day).
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According to these minutes the committee reviewed students’ progress as well as faculty concerns for students before deciding to dismiss students from the program based on grades or other poor performances. By 2000 it was split into two divisions, day and evening, but both served the same purpose. This section may be restricted due to student information, including grades, address, or other personal information.
These documents were housed separately from the Evaluation and Promotion Committee and these meetings were only called for specific instances. It appears that these meetings were called as a consequence of a decision made by the Evaluation and Promotion Committee. This section contains minutes and documents related to individual appeal cases by dismissed students. The same members make appearances in both Committee minutes, though there are (in some meetings) a few additional individuals. Prior to 1992 some appeals meetings can be found in the Faculty Organization Committee minutes. This section may be restricted as it pertains to specific discussions about apparent failings (academically or financially) of students.
This committee was developed out of concern with the Faculty Organization of professional development in 1981 and lasted until the closing of the school. The Associate Director of Nursing Education and three teaching faculty were members of this organization, established in 1981. Later the Associate Director was replaced by the Evening Program Coordinator.
The Faculty Development Committee met to provide materials or programs necessary to promote and develop professional growth with the school’s faculty. They discuss in-service days planning, peer review program, library concerns, and other related ideas.
The Journal Club was a brief committee developed by the Faculty Development Committee. Under this committee, a member of the faculty would report or present an article for discussion. This was an attempt to further educate and involve the faculty with continuing their knowledge and relevant developments in their field.
The Faculty/Student Council Committee’s mission was to facilitate the exchange of ideas between the students and faculty. It appears to have been an ongoing organization though we only have documents from the early 1990s onwards. Members consisted of the Coordinator of Student Services, Advisor to SGA, Director of Nursing Education, and Associate Director of Nursing Education, President of SGA, and Class Presidents in 1987. By 2000, members changed to all RN and LPN students, SGA Advisors, Director of Nursing Education, and Day, Evening, and LPN Class Officers.
Minutes of these proceedings cover topics that range from the Freshman Welcome Luncheons to extracurricular trips to other social events to the concerns regarding the implementation of the nursing program.
This organization is the official representative body of the students. This committee held the responsibility to promote student activities, personal development, student/faculty cooperation, and provide self-direction. These minutes relate to the activities of the organization including funds, fundraising, planning events, the follow up of events, development of activities, etc. The SGA also had representation on the Faculty-Student Council, the Library and Visual Aids/ Learning Resources Committee, and the Faculty Organization. Officers were elected by the student population and the SGA selected its own faculty advisor. It acted on its own accord but was accountable to the Faculty-Student Council and the Faculty Organization.
It was originally called the Library and Visual Aids Committee until August 1996 when the title of committee changed to the Learning Resources Committee, probably a result of the expansion of technology. This committee was responsible for maintaining the library program and computer labs. One student from each class, the library coordinator, and three faculty personnel were members under the Library and Visual Aids. By 2000 and under the Learning Resources, members included four faculty members (2 for each day and evening) and student representatives.
This committee’s function was to discuss issues and concerns relating the nursing art labs, computer labs, library policies, and other audio-visual policies and practices. It also maintained and expanded the technical developments of the School of Nursing.
This contains reports created by the Learning Resources Committee concerning library and computer functions.
Although there is a gap in the minutes, it appears to have been a continuous organization created in 1974. This committee was responsible for maintaining the courses provide by the school. It also appears to receive quarterly reports from various “N” committees beginning in the 1990s, suggesting that these smaller committees were created by the Curriculum Committee for better efficiency and for the smaller groups to resolve their specific issues quicker. By 2000, the members included all Day Program Faculty, the Evening Program Coordinator, the Recruiter, Director of Nursing Education, and two student representatives.
This standing committee evaluates the School of Nursing courses, any issues or problems, as well as the overall aims and goals of courses and the school on an on-going base. This committee focuses on evaluating the content of all the courses offered and supported by Episcopal but not always necessarily making larger changes to the structure of curriculum (this was sometimes done by the Curriculum Revision Committee).
This subseries has two folders. The first folder containing various papers found with the committee minutes. They relate to the minutes but were not contained within the minutes themselves. The second folder was a LPN binder, which is restricted due the student information found within it, concerning the committee but did not have any related minutes.
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This section contains various committees regarding the nursing courses. There are different committees for each individual “N” course. In most years, Day and Evening Programs were housed together. However, various committee minutes from 1981-1987 were housed together as one group. “Nursing Level II and Level III Committee” for example has minutes related to N 200-203 classes as well as N 300, with a long range from 1981-1987. “Nursing Level I” has minutes and/or handouts from courses 100-103, ranging from 1981-1987, though most are from 1984-1987. Also in the early 1990s there were committees housed and self-titled “old” (1988-1992) and “new” (1993-1998). This relates to the curriculum changes that the courses and the school underwent as a whole, however the overall function and the types of issues discussed remained consistent.
This type of committee discussed the students, the materials, and issues or problems relating to the progression of the course. Each course is separated (with the noted exception) and contains the years of minutes. It also contains (for certain course) the handouts, readings, and similar materials of that specific course. This is specific to the course and its own progression. These smaller committees consist of the faculty responsibilities for the course, changes for the immediate need of the course, and focus on the specific details and issues concerning the progression of the course. Every course had its own committee. In later years some courses were grouped together.
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This committee is a sub-committee under the umbrella of the Curriculum Committee as this focuses on improving the courses over a long-term period rather than as the term or semester progressed. This appears to be a standing committee in action before 1995 and after 1997, however there are no other records for it.
[There are other Ad Hoc Curriculum Revision Committees that were not originally housed with these documents and are listed where they were located under series 151-3-2 Sub-Standing (Ad Hoc) Committees.]
This contains the minutes from 1995-1997, however it is unknown if there are other records for other years. It does, however, appear to be a standing committee. These minutes show that it sought to find areas to improve upon and to make larger changes to the curriculum such as objectives, philosophy and overall goals of the curriculum as well as at the course level. Some pages within this grouping are titled Ad Hoc Curriculum Revision, but most documents are labeled Curriculum Revision.
The Evaluation Committee was established in 1984 out of growing concerns for the quality of their program. Membership for this committee included two teaching faculty and a person appointed by the Director of Nursing Education. This standing committee investigated the policies of the school and evaluated their performance. The tasks were assigned both to themselves and to other committees or individuals (such as the Director of Nursing). It appears that similar reports and investigation may have occurred prior to the establishment of a committee.
[Between May 1994 and July 1994 this committee may have underwent a change from Evaluation Committee to the Systematic Plan for Evaluation Committee (SPE). The two committees share the same responsibilities as each other, especially with overseeing the evaluation of the school master plan. However, the Evaluation Committee appears to maintain itself as a standing committee into at least 2000; however there are no minutes for it. While it looks as though the Evaluation Committee may have been split into two committees—the new SPE and the Evaluation Committee—there are no records of the Evaluation Committee post May 1994. The only evidence as of now to suggest it continued on is in the Faculty Organization Agenda and Annual Reports that list the standing committees.]
[See also Faculty Organization General Files for related reports generated in the early 1960s to 1970s.]
According to the minutes beginning in 1984, the committee was responsible for revising the philosophy and objectives of the school through the implementation of a master plan of evaluation. This organization also executed various surveys including a financial policy survey, a dress code policy, a tuition survey, a graduating student survey, and an employer survey. Not only did they carry out surveys within the school but also to other schools as to what their policies were.
The Systematic Plan for Evaluation Committee was responsible for maintaining the Master Plan or schedule of tasks and for assigning and receiving reports from other committees. They were responsible for overseeing an evaluation of the school in various aspects (faculty involvement, programs, etc.) Members included a day program faculty, and three other faculty members.
[See also Faculty Organization General Files for related reports generated in the early 1960s to 1970s].
These tasks are often assigned to other committees to carry out (director of School of Nursing, Faculty Organization, Curriculum Committee, etc.); however this committee ensured they were completed and that they received the reports. Some papers contain surveys and research performed for a specific task as well as drafts of reports. They also audited the binders for other committees, including the Faculty Organization and Curriculum Committee. Documents dated after 1996, are more likely to contain worksheets and annual reports performed and presented by the committee.
This contains the reports and worksheets concerning the evaluation of specific criterions and/or objectives scheduled by the Systematic Plan for Evaluation Committee. These documents do not contain the minutes of the Systematic Plan for Evaluation but are the results of their function as a committee. These documents were housed by criterion resulting in different date spans per section. Some topics include evaluating the mission and goals of the School of Nursing education to see if they are consistent with the governing organization, as well as investigating if all faculty and students are participating in school governance. These worksheets and reports highlight was being done, how well, and what needs to be improved.
This committee was originally called the Joint Council–Service/Education Committee until at least 1986. By 1992, it was under this new name. It is unclear as to when this change in title occurred, as there is six-year gap between records. It does suggest that either other records have been lost, or that the committee was discontinued by 1987 only to be reformed later. The latter seems the most likely explanation, considering that the Joint Council is not listed as a standing committee as it was when it was first formed. Members of this committee (at least in 1984) consisted of the Director of Nursing Education, Assistant Director of Nursing Education, Director of Nursing Services, three instructors, one head nurse, and one supervisor. This committee was formed to facilitate communication between the School of Nursing and the hospital services. Issues cover include discussing course changes/issues, census findings, tuition assistance program, and student employment.
These minutes are from various Ad Hoc committees created by the Faculty Organization Committee for special issues/problems and were established as needed, for a limited time, and disestablished upon completion. These minutes spans from 1981-1983, 1987-1993, 1995-1997, 1999 and are listed in the order they were originally found in.
Consisting mainly of course files, these documents are arranged by individual course number and name, then chronologically hereunder. These files contain the course material, course objectives, handouts, schedules, exams, as well as reading assignments and other related documents for a specific course. Each course is contained separately and the materials for that specific course vary. There are some Penn State curriculum files for courses for the Class of 1982 and 1983 within this section. In 1999 the LNP classes were introduced, with the first graduating class in 2001. Each class year has be broken into subseries, however as this collection was processed at two different times, letters have been used to mark the earlier years found in 2013 before the 2009 processing sequence begins (the previous processing covered 1982-1988). Therefore classes prior to 1982 have a letter, and those after 1982 are identified by number, continuing past our 2009 processing of this series.
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This section contains the documents related to the various affiliations Episcopal maintained during its existence. This includes the arrangement of its students to receive clinical training or to take course work at other training sites. In addition, this series also contains the materials regarding the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing and the National League of Nursing (NLN). Documents for those two organization includes annual reports from Episcopal, correspondence, site visits made to the school, mailings, accreditations results and other materials generated. The PA State Board subseries also includes the student test pool results, which was used for certification prior to the development of the NCLEX. Also, in this section are the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) documents, including the NCLEX test results.
[See Series 151-3.5.11 Germantown Dispensary and Hospital School of Nursing Philosophy for their documents as they were found amongst the Faculty Manual].
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This subseries focuses on the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing. Established by the state government, the Board of Nursing is responsible for the regulation of nursing practice in order to protect the public’s health and welfare. The Board is tasked with enforcing the Nurse Practice Act and nurse licensure, accrediting or approving nurse education programs, developing practice standards and developing administrative policies and regulations. Prior to the establishment of the NCLEX, the State Board issued and maintained its own test for nurse licensing.
Materials include the annual reports produced by Episcopal for the State Board, forms for tracking faculty members and their qualifications, incoming and outgoing correspondence, as well as site visit reports and proposed curriculum changes (see also Series 151-6.2 Office of the Director).
The Annual Reports produced by the school for the PA State Board contains the yearly information of the number of nurses, the current administrative staff and instructors, committee members, finanical information, patient intake and outake, educational courses, and other institutional information.
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Founded in 1893 as the American Society of Superintendents of Training Schools for Nurses, the National League for Nursing was the first nursing organization in the United States. In 1952 the NLN combined with the National Organization for Public Health Nursing and the Association for Collegiate Schools of Nursing as the National League for Nursing and assumed responsibility for the accreditation of nursing schools in the U.S.
The NLN materials reflect the institution’s mission to promote and standardize nursing education. Documents include the reports of the site visits and resurveys of the Episcopal School of Nursing, correspondence between the two institutions, membership mailings and other communications, in addition to the documents created to and for the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission during the 2000s.
The materials regarding the National Council of State Boards of Nursing are primarily the program reports and summary profiles generated based on the students test results on the national nursing qualification examination (NCLEX). Reports date from 1987 to 2009, and include the RN and PN programs. There are some correspondence and other general information about the NCSBN and the NLCEX, though limited.
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According to Roberta West, Almira C. Davis was the first Directress of Nurses when the school was established in 1888. She was responsible for organizing the school and gradually replacing the nurses with new pupils. The Director of the School appears to be largely a figurehead for the school. This person was a member of the Hospital Board as the school’s representative. The Director was a liaison of sorts between the hospital and the faculty as well as the school and the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing. This person has the responsibility of running the school while also protecting its interest from the hospital and the State Board. This position was also responsible for implementing any directives passed by the State Board as well as collecting necessary data and reports in order to issue School reports. The Director was responsible for advancing the school and improving its educational standings as well as creating the necessary affiliations and building space as needed.
Materials in this series focus on the activities performed by the Office of the Director. Broken into subseries (general files, reports, financial considerations, statistical information and survey responses, and the 90th and 100th Celebrations), these documents include correspondence about school activities, reports generated for various organizations, curriculum changes, grant funding, and faculty data. In addition, this section contains the correspondence, programs, planning, and other materials regarding the 90th and 100th Celebration of the Episcopal Hospital and the School of Nursing, including letters of recognition from city, state, and national politicians.
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The materials within this series focus on the final years of the Episcopal School of Nursing. Episcopal was incorporated into Temple University in the mid-2000s and continued to operate as a separate branch of the university until it was decide in 2007 that the financial resources could no longer support the program. The final Episcopal School of Nursing class graduated in December 2009.
Documents within this section comprise of student handbooks, financial aid information (IPEDS surveys, federal aid eligibility, and other grants and scholarship information), and school closure reports.
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Documents in this section primarily focus on printed materials produced for the school. This includes commencement programs, announcements and invitations (c. 1915-2009), catalogs and circulars of information, newspapers and other publications by the students, as well as hospital publications and pamphlets. In addition, there are publications produced by the NLN and books about the school, its graduate nurses during World War I, or the area of the city the school was located. Lastly, student handbooks (c. 1986, 1989-2009) are also contained in this series.
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Please contact Center Staff for book locations
The documents within this section came from an area of the former library at Episcopal School of Nursing. These materials either relate to the library and the archive they maintained on site or the Nurses’ Alumnae Association. Unfortunately, the boundary between the two was difficult to uncover, and as a result, the documents are together in one series. Whenever material that clearly is the Alumnae Association’s is categorized under its own subseries. Documents in that subseries include annual reports of the association, class lists, correspondence, and materials given to the group by its members. Other materials have been identified into additional subseries, though they may have belonged to the Alumnae group.
Other subseries include The Hospital of Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia (mainly annual reports of the hospital and regulations), Student Life (the basketball team, coral arrangements, and other student shows), History of Episcopal and its Nurses (collected histories of the hospital, the school and its students), and General Items (including news clippings, library accession log, photocopies of photographs). The last subseries contains all the items found, with no identification as to whom it belonged to, in a metal box (c. 1920s-1940s). Most items are fragile, and all items were inventoried in Feb 1991. Items include photographs, clippings, book pages, correspondence to patients (including burial wishes), and banking communications to patients.
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Fragile
Fragile
Fragile
Fragile
Fragile
Fragile
Fragile
Fragile
Fragile
Fragile
The Nurses’ Alumnae Association was established in 1901 and continues to be an active organization. The Association held annual meeting, fundraised for the school, offered student loans to students, and organized event for the students as well as its graduates (including class reunions).
*Contains information about former students and student life; History of Episcopal (1851-1990) and Letters from Graduates c. 1952-1992 Pictures removed
Items are identified by number based on inventory list whenever possible. Materials pertain to patients at Episcopal Hospital, including correspondence to, from, or about patients written by the head nurse; photographs; miscellaneous objects; and notes written by patients c. 1920s-1940.
Fragile
Fragile
This section, one of the largest ones, contains all the student files of Episcopal between 1934 and 2009. Files between 1934 and 1969 are open to researchers, however additional forms may be required by researchers due to the personal identifiable information found within. The remaining files will be open by decade starting in 2020 (i.e. 1970-1979 files will be opened in 2020, 1980-1989 are opened in 2030, etc.). Documents in the individual folders include applications, permanent records, high school information, as well as correspondence regarding transcripts or recommendations. Also, some of the NLN Achievement files are found within this section.
In addition, there is a subseries of the Kensington Hospital for Women, Class of 1913-1931. Episcopal was given the student files to maintain after the school of nursing closed. Though there are documents suggesting these files were microfilmed and sent to the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing, these are the original files.
The second subseries contains files of the students who withdrew (currently unprocessed). The final subseries has miscellaneous items regarding the students, including course evaluations and transcript audits.
For former Episcopal Students wishing for their transcripts, please visit the Bates Center website for instructions.
For Student File Box numbers, please contact the Center Staff.
Restricted
Restricted
Restricted
Restricted
The photographs of this collection are still being identified and processed at this time. Photographs include formal class pictures, graduation ceremonies, student images and dorm life, and other school-related images. For more information about the photographs, please contact the Bates Center.
In addition, there are a scrapbook and a photograph album. The scrapbook was given to the school by Marion Eissler and represents hospital and school of nursing staff. All images are labeled whenever possible. The photograph album, donated to school by Florence May Cooke, is of personal photographs of the nursing student. The images are not labeled.