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Civil defense and nurse recruitment posters, 1954, 1956, 1970

 File — Box: OS-1, Folder: 20
Identifier: IV

Scope and Contents of the Series

From the Series:

Meeting minutes, committee reports, bulletins, agendas, memoranda, correspondence, educational and outreach materials, speeches, employment applications, recruitment information, and legislative materials, such as copies of bills and resolutions, make up the records of GNA's Committees. Files in this series range in date from 1919 to 1986, though the bulk of the series is concentrated from the 1940s to the 1970s. Folder titles have been arranged alphabetically.

While the Georgia Nurses Association had been in existence since 1907, Committees and councils did not start keeping separate records until 1928. Prior to this time, Committee reports appear only in the minutes of the executive board (Series I). The records of the Headquarters Committee (1929) and the Advisory Committee (1929) appear to be the earliest documented nursing Committees. These early files also contain Treasurer and Finance Committee reports. Other groups that were active in the 1930s include the Program Committee (1930), the Membership Committee (1932), the Legislative Committee (1933) and the Finance Committee (1935). Important Committees of this time included the Cause and Cure of War, Florence Nightingale International Foundation, Practical Nurses, Registry, Resolutions and Scholarship Committees. Some of these Committees were kept active in the organization over the years, while others, such as the Cause and Cure for War Committee, were active only briefly.

The number of Georgia State Nurses Association Committees and Councils increased as the years progressed and the need for more nursing services throughout the state became apparent. These records indicate that the 1940s saw the inclusion of the Georgia State Committee of the American Red Cross Nursing Service, the Arrangements Committee (those nurses responsible for convention and various affairs arrangements), the Bulletin Committee and a Bylaws Committee. There were Committees for District nursing services, membership, nominations, nurses' education, practical nurses, recruitment, registry and a state nursing council.

Wartime groups from this era are limited to the Georgia State Nursing Council for War Service (1945-1946) and the Civil Service Committee (1937, 1946-1948). The Florence Nightingale International Foundation (1933-1950) was, and remains to this day, an educational foundation formed as a memorial to Florence Nightingale to promote nursing education around the world. Civil Service Committee folders contain information on the United States Civil Service Commission and the national effort to reclassify graduate registered professional nurses from the Subprofessional Service classification to the Professional Service classification. Also in the late 1940's, a Structure Study Committee was formed by the American Nurses Association in order to examine the organization of six national nursing groups into one organization, through the elicitation of help from the state organizations. This effort would extend into the 1950s.

By the 1950s, the Advisory Committee (also known as the Advisory Council) became an important body within the Georgia Nurses Association concerning the issues of Practical Nurses, a code for professional nurses and African-American nurses. Another busy Committee in the Georgia Nurses Association during this decade was the Careers Committee. It actively promoted the nursing profession by sending recruitment materials to Georgia nursing colleges, through mail campaigns to Georgia high schools and in conjunction with the National League for Nursing's Committee on Careers. Files on the Civil Defense Committee, 1951-1958, reflect not only the nursing profession's role in combating the public health concerns of atomic warfare, but also the seriousness with which the nursing profession undertook this duty. Other important Committees of this time period include the Headquarters Committee, the Legislation Committee, the Membership Committee, the Practical Nurses of Georgia Committee and the Structure Study Committee. The Memorial Committee appears to have ceased after 1958. Since the mid-1930s it was responsible for keeping track of those nursing members who had passed away. Its files include correspondence, newspaper clippings, reports and recommendations.

Correspondence between Katherine Pope and various health organization leaders indicate that the 1960s and 1970s was a time of much activity again for the Careers and Recruitment Committees. A children's program was staged in the Lenox Square Mall (Atlanta), and a full day of activities was planned for a nursing festival in 1969 at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum on Georgia Tech's campus in Atlanta. In order to counter a nursing shortage, a Joint Committee on Careers, composed of the Georgia State League for Nursing, Georgia State Nurses Association and the Board of Examiners of Nurses for Georgia, coordinated a statewide student recruitment program. Minutes from the Headquarters Committee indicate that repairs were needed for the Atlanta headquarters building, and by the 1970s, the Committee was investigating how to build a new headquarters building. This Committee was also known as the Five Year Plan Committee and the Building Committee. The folders containing Legislative Committee materials from the 1940s to 1970s show an increasing legislative interest, and presence, by Georgia’s nurses on both the state and federal levels. Significant bills, acts and amendments documented in these folders include acts creating a "Board of Examiners of Practical Nurses," amending the "Regulations of the Nursing Profession" act, and statements concerning the Georgia Nurse Association's stance on a wide range of topics. From women's reproductive and health rights, to emergency medical care, to the elderly and indigent, the Georgia Nurse Association's Legislative Committee documents the nursing group's consistent advocacy for health and welfare concerns.

Many of the Committees changed names over the years or were referred to by more than one name simultaneously. In all cases, the original folder titles have been retained.

Dates

  • Creation: 1954, 1956, 1970

Creator

Restrictions on Access

Collection is open for research use. Access to certain records containing personal information is restricted. All restrictions are noted in the inventory.

Extent

From the Series: 16.26 Linear Feet (in 39 boxes, 1 oversize folder, 1 oversize item)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Repository

Contact:
100 Decatur St., S.E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
404-413-2880
404-413-2881 (Fax)