Manuscripts Collection
The Saint Paul nurses saw the need for state legislation setting standards for nursing school and for registration of nurses. A state nurses association formed in 1905 and two years later Minnesota enacted a nurse’s registration law. The Saint Paul group reflected the new conditions by changing its name to Ramsey County Registered Nurses' Association.
A reorganization of the American Nurses' Association required that the state be divided into district rather than county divisions. Thus, in 1919, Ramsey united with Isanti, Chisago, Anoka, Washington, Dakota, Scott, Rice and Goodhue counties to become the Fourth District of the Minnesota State Registered Nurses' Association. The growth and diversification of the nursing profession necessitated the formation of an institutional section (for hospital nurses) and a private duty section within the Association in the early 1920s. Later sections were added for public health nurses, administrative nurses, general staff and head nurses, and nursing educators.
Changing health care and insurance practices after World War II resulted in the decline of private duty nursing, once the most important element in the association. Most nurses were now employed by hospitals and other institutions. Major concerns became collective bargaining and the maintenance of professional standards in the face of rapidly changing conditions in the health care industry.
In 2011, the Fourth District Nurses Association closed its office and, except for closing financial accounts, disbanded.
These documents are organized into the following sections:
Accession number: 13,452; 17,044
Processed by: David B. Peterson, October 2015
Catalog ID number: 008440511
40th anniversary history of the Ramsey County Graduate Nurses Association.
May include minutes, reports, committee minutes, and correspondence.
Records of sections, committees, and conference groups. Committees were formed to discuss such topics as membership, nominations for officers, finances, and legislation. The conference groups were organized along the lines of the sections.
Contains letters written by Colvin, the first president of the Minnesota State Registered Nurses' Association.
Includes journal articles, letters, a biographical news clipping, and an autobiographical account of Erickson, a veteran of the Spanish-American War who figured strongly in the origination of the nursing registry.
Includes one folder of undated fragments.
In 1944 nursing students in Saint Paul and Minneapolis began to organize into groups. The State Nursing Student Association was formed in October 1947 and was divided into districts that corresponded with those of the Minnesota Nurses' Association.
Relate to U.S. Cadet Corps and Abbott Hospital.
Includes articles of incorporation and bylaws.