Administrative History

District 1 of the New York State Nurses Association traces its origins back to the Buffalo District Nurses Association, which was organized in 1885 and became incorporated under New York State law in 1891 with the object of providing nursing care for the citizens of Buffalo.

Under a bylaws change of the American Nurses’ Association and the New York State Nurses Association that created district or county level of affiliates of State Nurses Associations throughout the United States, District 1 of the New York State Nurses Association was organized and incorporated in 1919 as Western New York District of the New York State Nurses Association.

This history of District 1 has been extracted from the book History of District 1, New York State Nurses Association, 1941.

Scope and Contents Notes

The records of District 1 of the New York State Nurses Association, 1919-1969, document fifty years of development and growth of the nursing profession in western New York State. The minutes and reports are arranged chronologically by group of origin.

American Nurses’ Association, National League for Nursing, International Council of Nurses and New York State Nurses Association materials, as well as government documents were separated from the District 1 collection before processing the collection and filed with the appropriate nursing group. Duplicates were discarded. This was done for ease of retrieval, to preserve the uniqueness of the District 1 collection and to save space.

Photographs, 16 mm films, the sound filmstrip and reel tapes have been separated from the District collection and placed with appropriate audio-visual collections. The 16 mm films require reconditioning and splicing but are a valuable record of nurse recruitment methods during the 1940’s-1960’s.

Series Descriptions

Series 1: Official Records, 1919-1969
History of District 1, Board of Directors Handbook of Policies and Procedures, Board of Directors Minutes, 1919-1969; Treasurer’s Reports, 1947-65; NYSNA District 1 Yearbook, 1938; District 1 News, 1945-69, arranged chronologically.
Series 2: Committees, Programs, Institutes
Minutes of Public Health Nurses, 1953-71*; Coordinating Council, 1964-65; Conference of Directors, 1960-69; Directors of Nursing of Small Hospitals, 1967-69; Records of the Committee Concerned with Patient Care, 1952-56; Western New York Joint Commission for the Improvement of Care to the Patient; 1956-58; Legislation Committee, 1943-62; Economic Security Program, 1955-67; Licensed Practical Nurses Committee, 1939-67 arranged chronologically.
Five reel tapes of three different institutes: Crash Crisis Institute (12/2/66), Change of Heart Institute (2/24/67) and the Legal Aspects of Nursing (Part I – 4/28/67 and Part II – 5/5/67) are included. No transcriptions are available. For lists of speakers see attached Addendum.
Photographs of the Christmas Wonderland Carnival, sponsored by District 1 during the late 1940’s and early 1950’s to raise funds for scholarships for nursing education are included in album format. Many pictures are unidentified and news clippings have been xeroxed.
Series 3: Nurse Recruitment
Membership forms and recruitment information from the mid 1950’s along with five 16 mm films from the late 1940’s to the early 1960’s: When You Choose Nursing, Keeper of the Lamp, Girls In White, Nurse, Future Nurse, and one filmstrip, Nurses Who Belong (1965), document nurse recruitment methods for a span of approximately 15 years. See separation sheet for location of audio-visual materials.
Series 4: Miscellaneous
Vouchers of District 1’s Executive Secretary, Dorothy Anker (1942); Correspondence of Robert Jones to Dorothy Anker (1952-53); District Nursing: An Episodic Drama (1927); News clippings and framed photographs of Anne. E. Hansen (187?-1938), Lystra E. Gretter (1858-1951), the Statue of Florence Nightingale and the Florence Nightingale Pledge. The pictures have been placed in the photograph file.