The History of Nursing chronicles the development of nursing education and the profession of nursing. The total collection contains 1,500 monographs and 85,000 items such as letters, minutes, records, government reports, position papers, and photographs providing insights into the lives of nursing pioneers and the ongoing progress of their successors.

The collection is broken up into:

• Part I: The Adelaide Nutting Historical Nursing Collection,
• Part II: The Archives of the Department of Nursing Education, Teachers College, Columbia University,
• Supplement to Part II: The Archives

ECU holds Part 1: The Adelaide Nutting Historical Nursing Collection

The Nutting Collection contains more than 1,500 monographs and documents about the history of medicine, nursing, and hospitals, from the 15th century through the early 20th century. Particularly valuable are documents from French hospitals of the 17th and 18th centuries, plus articles, books, and correspondence by Florence Nightingale.

Some examples:

Buer, M. (1926). Health, wealth and population in the early days of the Industrial Revolution. London
Clay, R. (1909) The mediaeval hospitals of England. London
Haggard,H. (1929) Devils, drugs and doctors. New York City
Marshall, H. (1937) Dorothera Dix:forgotten Samaritan. Chapel
Hill Myers, B. (1912) Day nurseries and their management. London
Reid, E. (1922) Florence Nightingale, a drama. New York
Roberts,G. (1920) A brief history of St. Thomas hospital. London
Singer, C. (1926) The evolution of anatomy. New York
Struthers, L. (1917). The school nurse. New York
Terrot, C. (1948). Miss Nightingale's ladies. London