ABSTRACT
Students were paid little or nothing and had to work long and hard hours for their board, room, and what little instruction they received. Arthur Hertzler, a Kansas physician who wrote his memoirs in the 1930’s, recalled the transition from visiting his patients to having them visit him in his office, and finally to establishing his own hospital. Nurses not only had to overcome the disabilities facing women in general, they also had to demarcate a new area of expertise for themselves, always being careful not to antagonize the physician. The initiative for organization came from Isabel Hampton, then superintendent and principal of the Johns Hopkins Hospital Nursing School. At the 1894 meeting an organization was formally launched with the imposing title of the Society of Superintendents of Training Schools for Nurses of the United States and Canada. The major efforts of the Associated Alumnae were concentrated on obtaining state registration of nurses.
