Georgia Nurses' Association records

The Georgia Nurses' Association (GNA) was founded in 1907 as a professional organization to unite nurses in Georgia, to advocate for high standards for nurses and nursing education, and to improve patient care. In 1902, seventeen nurses formed a precursor organization, the Graduate Nurses' Association of Augusta, with the intention of becoming charter members of a state nurses' association. This group and other nurses realized this intention in 1907 when the Georgia State Association of Graduate Nurses was chartered. When the charter was renewed in 1927, the name of the organization was changed to the Georgia State Nurses' Association; since the 1970s the group has simply been the Georgia Nurses' Association. GNA has been a constituent of the American Nurses' Association (ANA) since 1908. Individual registered nurses join ANA through their local districts of GNA. GNA members have a voice in state, national, and international concerns through representation on the state House of Delegates, the national House of Delegates, and ANA's representation in the International Council of Nurses.

The main objectives of the association in its early days were "to procure State registration, to elevate and maintain the standard of nursing, to protect the public, and to promote good fellowship among all nurses." On May 17, 1907, the nurses adopted a registration bill that was passed by the Georgia General Assembly that same year. The bill provided for the creation of a Board of Nurse Examiners whose members would be nominated by the association and appointed by the Governor. This board had the power to examine and register nurses who were of good moral character, 21 years old, and who had graduated from suitable nursing schools. The Medical Association of Georgia lobbied against the bill and introduced amendments that would have kept doctors in control of the board, but the nurses objected to these amendments and managed to have the bill passed without major revisions. In 1927 an amendment to the original registration act made registration for nurses mandatory in the state of Georgia. Even after the nurses achieved their goal of state registration, GNA remained heavily involved in lobbying for nursing legislation. Over the years, GNA has supported many legislative initiatives, including measures involving licensed practical nurses, drug abuse, prescriptive authority for nurses, and organized labor.

The organization in 1907 had a fairly simple structure. The governing body of GNA was the executive board, which consisted of the organization’s officers and the chairs of the five standing Committees. As the organization grew, the make-up of the executive board gradually changed to reflect GNA's growing complexity. Originally, members were recruited from nursing school alumnae groups and GNA did not have any further local divisions. In 1919, however, four districts were established, and the district presidents became members of the executive board. The number of districts fluctuated wildly; they were reorganized in 1928, more districts were added in 1929, and in 1930 the districts were numbered according to congressional districts as much as was possible. The chairs of the standing Committees (by 1929 the original five had expanded to twelve) were removed from the board sometime in the 1920s and replaced with four "counsellors" (later directors) who were elected at the annual meetings. This general structure for the executive board persisted, although membership on the board varied greatly over the years. By 1967, as the organization grew in complexity, an executive Committee had been instituted to conduct business between executive board meetings. The executive Committee was also responsible for hiring the executive officer and secretarial staff for the GNA office.

As the nursing profession became more complex, so too did the organization representing professional nurses in Georgia. GNA sponsored or collaborated with other nursing organizations that arose to serve the needs of nurses in specialized fields, including the Georgia State League for Nursing Education, the Georgia State Organization for Public Health Nursing, and the Georgia Association of Industrial Nurses. Internally, too, GNA tried to meet the needs of its ever diversifying nurses. Sections were created to represent nurses in specific fields (educators, administrators, private duty, office nursing, etc.). For a time, nurses who represented GNA at the biennial ANA convention were elected by the sections. Sections also provided clinical workshops and other special services for their members. In time, and as ANA changed its structure, GNA mirrored the changes that occurred on the national level. The sections were supplemented by conference groups and then eliminated altogether, with the conference groups taking over many of the functions the sections had performed earlier. Eventually commissions dealing with various concerns of nursing, including education and economic and general welfare, were organized.

In 1968 Stanley Kravit, who had worked extensively as an organizer in New Jersey, came to Georgia as the ANA Economic and General Welfare Consultant to the GNA. Kravit immediately began organizing nurses into local units with the goal of getting recognition for GNA to perform collective bargaining, with limited success. Although the Veterans' Administration hospitals all were involved in collective bargaining with nurses (thanks to an executive order), other hospital administrations and health authorities were not receptive to the idea. In early 1969 roughly 100 nurses at Dekalb General Hospital, members of the Dekalb General Hospital local unit, resigned in protest when the hospital administrator refused to enter into collective bargaining with GNA. The struggle between the nurses and the hospital is documented in Stanley Kravit's files (Series IX, Subseries B) and in the files of the Dekalb General Hospital local unit (Series IX, Subseries D).

Stanley Kravit was reassigned in late 1969, and GNA hired Robert Hice to continue to work on economic and general welfare issues. Hice introduced the new approach project, changing the local units into local chapters of the GNA. He argued that hospital administrators and other medical professionals were more likely to negotiate with the nurses as professionals rather than the nurses as members of a labor union, which was how earlier efforts at collective bargaining had been perceived. His files (Series IX, Subseries C) document the development and implementation of this new approach project.

During this period the membership of GNA was not only diversifying but also increasing. This growing membership also necessitated changes in the way GNA conducted its business. The organization was founded by a group of thirty-five nurses; by 2006 the number of members had grown to 2200. During the first seventy years of the organisation's existence, all members in good standing were entitled to vote during the annual meetings. With the growth in membership, however, GNA in the late 1970s switched to a House of Delegates structure. Each district elected delegates to be representatives at the state annual meeting and to vote on behalf of that district's members.

GNA's history also reflects many of the broader issues of concern in the South and in the United States. During both World War I and World War II, GNA was involved in recruiting and organizing nurses both for civilian and military duty. Many of GNA's prominent members were actively involved with the American Red Cross. One member, Jane van de Vrede, was the Director of the Southern Division of the American Red Cross during and immediately after the First World War; she was also a tireless advocate for black nurses, who were not allowed to join the GNA until the late 1960s. GNA also became more active politically over time, voting on a platform and instituting a political action Committee. While this Committee lobbied for and against bills that were directly applicable to nursing, it also advocated for many other bills that were not truly relevant to nursing but did reflect the overall philosophy and platform of the organization.