ABSTRACT
On 24 September 1912, Bergljot Larsson called in ʻsisters ʼ from the whole of Norway to discuss the establishment of an association for educated nurses. A few hours after the meeting took place, the Norwegian Nursing Association (NNA) was born, one of the last nursing associations to be founded in Scandinavia; Finland, Denmark and Sweden had already established their organizations. The decision to found the NNA was not made overnight. The idea was conceived not long after Larsson started to work as a nurse and was nurtured during her stay in Scotland from 1909 to 1911. By the time she attended her first international nursing congress, at Cologne in August 1912, preparations in Norway were almost complete. In the processes that led up to the final establishment of the NNA, inspiration, ideas, knowledge and support were provided by a range of individuals and institutions both within and beyond Norway. Larsson was the first president of the NNA, a position she held for twenty-three years.
