The Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry
The Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry, established at the University of Virginia in 1991 to support historical scholarship in nursing, is dedicated to the preservation and study of nursing history in the United States. The goals of the Center include the collection of materials, the promotion of scholarship, and the dissemination of historical research findings.
The Center runs a regular series of nursing history forums, sponsors the annual Agnes Dillon Randolph Award and Lecture, mounts exhibits, awards a yearly historical research fellowship, and publishes a newsletter, Windows in Time.
Located in the University of Virginia School of Nursing's McLeod Hall, the Center is normally open to visitors and researchers Monday through Friday. Please contact the Center as far in advance as possible to schedule a visit.
Center Overview - Collecting Materials & Promoting Scholarship
The Center works with the University’s Health Sciences Library Historical Collections in acquiring and preserving nursing materials such as personal papers, letters, reports, photographs, and nursing textbooks. Agencies, schools, and organizations are encouraged to donate their records and photographs so that the institutional history of nursing may be documented. Through collecting and making available such materials, the Center serves as a national resource open to visiting scholars, faculty, students, and others interested in the study of nursing and health care history. The collections are housed in the secure, climate-controlled Historical Collections of the University of Virginia Health Sciences Library. Here the materials are described and catalogued in both the Library’s online catalog and in OCLC, a national computer database of bibliographic information. Both of these bibliographic catalogs are searchable via the Internet.
The Center sponsors local and national programs and conferences to stimulate research and publicize findings, and awards a yearly historical research fellowship. It also provides informational, consulting, and photographic services to those who seek assistance with research in the history of nursing and health care. A long-range goal is to provide financial support for doctoral students and visiting scholars using Center collections.
To Donate Historical Materials
We encourage you to help preserve nursing’s heritage. Any material from the past may be of considerable value to health care historians. This includes personal papers related to an individual’s student days and nursing career, such as letters, photographs, teaching materials, reports, manuscripts, and research notes. Organizational papers or publications, such as minutes, records, newsletters, and brochures, are also valuable historical resources. One of the Center’s major collecting areas is southern nursing history, and we particularly encourage those who have lived and worked in the south to help us document nursing developments and contributions in this area of the country.
If you have any questions, email the Center or call the number below.
To Purchase Photographs
You may obtain copies of photographs that are owned by the Center. Prints for personal and/or educational use are priced at our costs for reproduction and mailing. Photos that will be used in publications are subject to other charges and restrictions. Please email the Center for details on photographic reproduction costs and policies.
Contact Us:
The Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry
School of Nursing
McLeod Hall
P.O. Box 800782
Charlottesville, VA
22908-0782
E-mail: nurs-hxc@virginia.edu
Phone: (434) 924-0083
Fax: (434) 982-1809
Center Faculty and Staff
Arlene Keeling, PhD, RN
Centennial Professor of Nursing
CMNEB 2111
email: awk2z@Virginia.EDU
(434) 924-5906
Barbara Brodie, PhD, RN, FAAN
Emeritus Professor
McLeod 1010
email: bb9w@Virginia.EDU
(434) 924-0083
Mary Gibson, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor
CMNEB 2003
email: meg2e@Virginia.EDU
(434) 924-0130
John Kirchgessner, PhD, RN, PNP
Assistant Professor of Nursing
McLeod 4059
email: jck2r@Virginia.EDU
(434) 924-0121
Maureen Spokes
Temp
McLeod 1010
email: mrs8t@Virginia.EDU
(434) 924-0083
Linda Hanson
Administrative Assistant
McLeod 1010
email: llh3x@Virginia.EDU
(434) 924-0083