Saskatchewan million dollar campaign, June 17, 1922. SPAM461C.
Happy Nurses Week! Among the variety of fascinating, thought-provoking, and celebratory commentaries about nurses this week, here’s the link to one from UBC’s Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian, Krisztina Laszlo
Notice of Special Program Event at the 2019 CSHM-CAHN Conference!
Commemorating 100-years of Academic Nursing at the University of British Columbia, 1919-2019
Group photograph of Donelda Ellis and third year UBC Nursing students at Grace Hospital
c/o UBC Archives Photograph Collection (10.14288/1.0163551)
When: June 3, 2019
Where: UBC Campus
What: 1. Pre-lunch panel, 2. Celebratory luncheon with student awards, 3. Post-lunch joint roundtable with the Canadian Historical Association
Pre-Lunch Panel Session
In 1919 UBC established Canada’s first university degree program in nursing, a virtually unheard of step, especially in the Commonwealth at large. Perhaps the new university in BC, only established in 1915, “as the last provincial university founded in Canada,” might have been flexible and open to new (public health) endeavours in ways that its well established counterparts in the core of Empire were not. Hence UBC made history with opening its doors to nursing as its first women’s education program, a choice not favoured by the BC Clubwomen for example, who rather would have preferred a program in home economics, — perceptibly a more fashionable and uplifting avenue towards academic education deemed appropriate for women. Nursing’s first director, Ethel Johns, had a seminal role in the introduction of a degree program in nursing. Her participation in influential nursing projects and research abroad brought international prestige and critical expertise to the program.
How did nursing education fare in a male-dominated university, with cultural codes of gender and class imposed upon a program that seemed to be more “pragmatically conceived than philosophically inspired?” And what is the meaning of commemorating nursing in the larger public debate over commemoration, statues and naming? A pre-lunch panel explores the wider British Columbian and Canadian context of the fledgling academic nursing program and the evolution of academic nursing. Following lunch, a joint roundtable with Canadian Historical Association will reflect on the meaning of commemoration, with a focus on the recollection of nurses in public memory.
Nursing Education at UBC starting in 1919: Forging an Academic Degree for Nurses Geertje Boschma (University of British Columbia)
Career Aspirations of B.C. Women Interested in Post-Secondary Education in the 1960s and 1970s Margaret Scaia (University of Victoria)
Panel Chair(e): Alison Phinney (University of British Columbia
Post-Lunch Interdisciplinary Session
This roundtable centers on the commemoration of nurses in public memory across a number of contexts. By critically examining representations of nurses as icons, trailblazers, war heroes, and symbols of virtue, discussants will unpack the power and meaning of the commemoration of nursing, and, more broadly, women’s caring work. In the context of current public debates on the nature – and political correctness – of historical plaques, monuments, and statues, and the broader symbolism of assigning place names, this roundtable explores the multiple uses of commemoration in and of nursing and health-related caring work. Brief presentations by five historians of medicine and nursing will be followed by discussion with the audience.
Pictures, Plaques, and Statues: The Real and False Utilities of Commemoration Jill Campbell-Miller (Carleton University)
Florence Nightingale: Defining Iconography and Monumental Challenges Sioban Nelson (University of Toronto)
Imagining and Remembering Wartime Nursing Sarah Glassford (Provincial Archives of New Brunswick)
After the Armistice: Documenting War, Commemorating Peace in Canadian Nurses’ War Memories Andrea McKenzie (York University)
Health Care Workers, Policy Makers, and Historical Memory Peter Twohig (St. Mary’s University)
Chair(e): Whitney Wood (University of Calgary)
For information on the joint CSHM – CAHN conference at Congress, visit
Canadian Association for the History of Nursing: https://cahn-achn.ca/
Canadian Society for the History of Medicine, annual conference: https://cshm-schm.ca/
For general information on Congress, visit
Members of the BC History of Nursing Society and the Consortium for Nursing History Inquiry have created the second instalment of a new display in the School of Nursing in celebration of the School’s Centenary.
This display features artifacts and archival documents that highlight the School’s history from the 1970s to the 1990s. Please visit it at the School of Nursing on the third floor of UBC Hospital from May until September 2019.
Watch This Space for information about the upcoming joint conference of the Canadian Association for the History of Nursing (CAHN) and the Canadian Society for the History of Medicine (CSHM), June 1-3, 2019 in Vancouver, BC.
Don’t Miss Early-Bird Registration: The Deadline is March 31, 2019
Members of the BC History of Nursing Society and the Consortium for Nursing History Inquiry have created a new display in the School of Nursing in celebration of the Centenary.
UBC School of Nursing in the 1950s and 1960s
This display features artifacts and archival documents that highlight the School’s history from the 1950s and 1960s. Please visit it at the School of Nursing on the third floor of UBC Hospital.
Keynote: Dr. Susan Duncan, Professor & Director, School of Nursing, University of Victoria
100 Years of University Nursing Education: Looking Back and Looking Forward – Why Then? Why not Now?
Time: Registration & Refreshments at 9:30 Program from 10:00 to 2:00
Place: Cecil Green Park House at 6251 Green Park Road, UBC Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1
Registration: Regular: $10.00 Students & Retirees: $5.00 Remote Webcast No Charge
Please visit the new nursing history display at the UBC School of Nursing to learn more about public health nursing education from 1925-1941.
Display created by Nan Martin and Geertje Boschma
The display includes many unique and interesting artifacts and photographs from and about this era, especially related to UBC’s public health nursing diploma and degree programs, public health nursing uniforms, and influential nurses such as Mabel Grey and Monica Green.
*Display created in partnership with the Consortium for Nursing History Inquiry at UBC School of Nursing and the BC History of Nursing Society
Established in 1919, the UBC School of Nursing has almost 100 years of experience educating nursing leaders and innovating research. We have an international reputation for research and scholarship, guided by a vision of excellence in nursing education, research and practice.
Display prepared by Nan Martin and Geertje Boschma, Summer 2018
The UBC School of Nursing is home to the first degree program in nursing in the Commonwealth and was one of the first academic programs established at UBC after the university’s inception in 1915.
Call for Papers
Joint Conference: Canadian Society for the History of Medicine (CSHM) and Canadian Association for the History of Nursing (CAHN)
June 1-3, 2019
University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC
The 2019 joint meeting of the Canadian Society for the History of Medicine and the Canadian Association for the History of Nursing will take place June 1-3, 2019 at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) territory. In conjunction with the 2019 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Programme Committee calls for papers that address the theme of this year’s Congress: “Circles of Conversation.”
Scholars are invited to present research on the broadly-defined histories of medicine, healing, health, and disease that explores conversations, debates, and dialogues on these themes at the local, provincial, national, and global levels. The programme committee also welcomes papers that critically and creatively explore the relationships between historians of health and medicine and the communities they influence and are influenced by, with a particular interest in relationships between historians and Indigenous communities. Proposals on topics unrelated to the Congress theme are also welcome. Please submit an abstract of less than 350 words and one-page CV for consideration by November 30, 2018 by e-mail to Dr. Whitney Wood at whitney.wood@ucalgary.ca. The Programme Committee encourages proposals for organised panels of three (3) related papers; in this case, please submit a panel proposal of less than 350 words in addition to an abstract and one-page CV from each presenter. The Committee will notify applicants of its decision by January 30, 2019. Those who accept an invitation to present at the meeting agree to provide French and English versions of the accepted abstract for inclusion in the bilingual Programme Book.
Questions can be addressed to the Programme Committee Co-Chairs:
Dr. Margaret Scaia, University of Victoria (mrscaia@uvic.ca)
Dr. Whitney Wood, University of Calgary (whitney.wood@ucalgary.ca)
Appel de communications
Colloque conjoint de la Société canadienne d’histoire de la médecine (SCHM) et de l’Association canadienne pour l’histoire du nursing (ACHN)
Du 1erau 3 juin 2019
Université de la Colombie-Britannique
Le colloque conjoint 2019 de la Société canadienne d’histoire de la médecine et de l’Association canadienne pour l’histoire du nursing aura lieu du 1er au 3 juin 2019 à l’Université de la Colombie-Britannique, à Vancouver, en territoire xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) non cédé. Conjointement au Congrès 2019 des sciences humaines, le Comité du programme lance un appel de communications portant sur le thème du congrès de cette année, à savoir « Cercles de conversation ».
Les chercheurs sont invités à présenter des recherches sur l’histoire de la médecine, de la guérison, de la santé et de la maladie au sens large qui explorent les conversations, les débats et les dialogues sur ces thèmes à l’échelle locale, provinciale, nationale et mondiale. Le Comité du programme accueille également les communications qui explorent de façon critique et créative les relations entre les historiens de la santé et de la médecine et les communautés qu’ils influencent et qui les influencent, en prêtant un intérêt particulier aux relations entre les historiens et les communautés autochtones. Les propositions sur des sujets autres que le thème du Congrès sont également bienvenues. Veuillez soumettre un résumé de moins de 350 mots et un CV d’une page pour examen d’ici le 30 novembre 2018 par courriel à Whitney Wood, whitney.wood@ucalgary.ca. Le Comité du programme encourage également les propositions d’organisation de panels composés de trois (3) communications. Dans ce cas, veuillez soumettre une proposition de panel de moins de 350 mots, accompagnée d’un résumé et d’un CV d’une page pour chaque présentateur. Le Comité informera les candidats de sa décision d’ici le 30 janvier 2019. Ceux qui seront invités à donner une présentation s’engagent à fournir une version en anglais et en français de leur résumé accepté, qui figurera au document de programme bilingue.
Les questions peuvent être adressées aux coprésidentes du Comité du programme :
Margaret Scaia, Université de Victoria (mrscaia@uvic.ca)
Whitney Wood, Université de Calgary (whitney.wood@ucalgary.ca)
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