Where's the nursing museum?

Published

Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

Okay, I was in Washington, DC for Thanksgiving, where there's museums for everything under the sun -- except nursing. A little internet research showed two, both associated with nursing schools/universities.

Why isn't there a nursing museum (or at least a nursing section) in the museums associated with the Civil War, (Clara Barton, etc.)? I've started asking when I go to such places where the nursing artifacts are; maybe if we all did, the museums would start exhibitiing things from "our" history, too....

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Stepdown progressive care.

If you're ever in London, there actually is a Florence Nightingale Museum. I was too late getting there and it had already closed. I really wanted to see what it was all about.

In DC there is a Red Cross Museum and it does have an exhibit on Clara Barton. I also never got to see that one because I was only there a few days and it was closed. I walked past it though. Might have been interesting.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

The Surgical museum in Chicago had/has an exhibit on the history of nursing.

But I would agree that there could be a lot more out in the public to understand nurses and the history of nursing.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in psych, ambulatory care, ER.

If you're ever going in the direction of New Orleans, there is an amazing pharmacy museum located in the French Quarter. I don't remember the street, and I don't even know if it's still there after Katrina.

I am a registered nurse and I have a sister that's a pharmacist. I visited the museum about 10 years or so ago and it was phenomenal, and I know that my sister would just love it. Although it's a pharmacy museum, it's really about 50/50 pharmacy/nursing. To see the tables used for birthing in the early 1900's, WOW!! And the first syringes?? A thin glass tube with a red rubber bulb on one end, and I can't remember how the needle was attached. The bottom floor was a lot of apothecary-type stuff, like really old bottles w/the original paper "opium" label still barely attached, an old mortar and pestle and things like that. Oh, and lots of old surgical instruments.

I'm going to have to Google it, see if it's there, and plan a trip down there soon. You guys would really enjoy it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion