November 22, 2022

Postcards from the Edge

written by: Maura Singleton

American nurses have been globetrotters since the beginning

and their motivations for traveling overseas still resonate today: new horizons, opportunities for professional growth, disasters, wartime need, mission work, and research. Postcards in the Bjoring Center’s collections give us glimpses of the adventures and privations these nurses experienced—as well as their common longing to return home.

WWI camilla Wills postcard from France — In 1918, American Red Cross nurse Camilla Louise Wills let her family know she was safe, though couldn't tell them she'd reached France, headed to UVA's Base Hospital 41 in San Denis.

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Camilla Wills WWI postcard — In another postcard mailed in 1919, she jubilantly scrawled, "On our way home!!"

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Queensland Australia postcard from Capt. Fearn — From the collection of U.S. Army Nurse Corps Capt. Claire E. Fearn, who served in the Pacific Theatre during WWII.

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Elizabeth Sams Moore postcard, Army Nurse Corps, WWII — From the scrapbook of Elizabeth Sams Moore, who joined the Army Nurse Corps as a first lieutenant in 1942 and served throughout WWII in North Africa, Italy, and France.

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The Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry was established at UVA in 1991 to support historical scholarship in nursing. Dedicated to the preservation and study of nursing history, the Bjoring Center collects historical materials, promotes nursing history scholarship, and disseminates historical research findings.

The center hosts a regular series of nursing history forums, sponsors an annual Agnes Dillon Randolph Award and lecture, awards annual research fellowships, and publishes a newsletter. Read our special 30th-anniversary publication, Object Lessons.

The center is open to researchers and visitors Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.- 5 p.m., or by appointment. Please contact the center to schedule an appointment.

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