History

Dorothea Dix

Jun 10, 1861

Dorothea Dix aspired to be a school teacher, but in her later years at age 39 she decided to become a nurse. Dix made her biggest contribution by joining the army in 1861 due to the outbreak of the civil war.

Linda Richards

Jun 10, 1872

In 1872, Linda Richards became the first student to enroll in the beginning class of five nurses in the first American Nurse’s training school.

Clara Barton

May 21, 1881

Clara Barton was a pioneer American teacher, nurse, and humanitarian. She is remembered for organizing and becoming the President of the American Red Cross which was founded on May 21, 1881.

Isabel Hampton

Jun 10, 1889

In 1889 Isabel Hampton Robb was appointed head of the new Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, where she continued to suggest reforms, participated in teaching, and published the text Nursing: Its Principles and Practice.

Lavinia Dock

Jun 10, 1893

Lavinia Dock, along with Mary Adelaide Nuttng and Isabel Hampton Robb, founded the American Society of superintendents of Training Schools for Nurses of the United States and Canada in 1893, a precursor to the current National League for Nursing.

Mary Eliza Mahoney

Jun 10, 1908

Mary Eliza Mahoney was the first African-American nurse. In 1908 she co-founded the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses.

Margaret Sanger

Jun 10, 1914

Margaret Sanger was a nurse and American birth control activist and the founder of the American Birth Control League In 1914, Sanger launched "The Woman Rebel", a monthly newsletter promoting contraception.

Annie Goodrich

Jun 10, 1918

Annie Goodrich trained at New York Hospital School of Nursing. Goodrich established the United States Student Nurse Reserve, more commonly known as the Army School of Nursing, in 1918.

Mary Breckenridge

Jan 28, 1925

Mary Breckenridge established the Frontier Nursing School originally called the Kentucky Committee for Mothers and Babies, in 1925 to provide professional health care in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky, one of American's poorest and most isolated regions.

Ida V. Moffett

Jun 10, 1943

Ida V. Moffett organized Alabama's first unit of Cadet Nurse Corps in 1943. It was a federal program of the Public Health Service that was established to overcome a shortage of nurses.

Hildegard Peplau, Ed.D

Jun 10, 1952

Hildegard Peplau, Ed.D was a nursing theorist whose seminal work Interpersonal Relations in Nursing was published in 1952.

Dorothea Elizabeth Orem

Jun 10, 1959

Dorothea Elizabeth Orem was a nursing theorist and founder of the Orem model of nursing, or Self Care Deficit Nursing Theory. The Orem model of nursing was developed between 1959.

Martha Rogers

Jun 10, 1961

In 1961, Martha Rogers provided a framework for continued study and research, and influenced the development of a variety of modalities, including therapeutic touch.

Madeline Leininger

Jun 10, 1974

In 1974, Dr, Madeline Leininger became the foundress of the worldwide Transcultural Movement. This movement brought the role of cultural factors in nursing practice into the discussion of how to best attend to those in need of nursing care.

Jean Watson

Jun 10, 1975

Jean Watson’s theory of Human Caring was developed in 1975, stating that through love and care, better care for the patient will be given.

Virginia Henderson

Jun 10, 1985

Virginia Henderson is most famous for her definition of nursing. In 1985 she was presented with the first Christianne Reimann Prize from the International Council of Nurses.