November 22, 2022
Playing Nurse
Playing Nurse
11
Number of puppets in a set used by pediatric NPs in the '70s to teach kids about hospitals
The Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry contains thousands of artifacts—letters, photographs, diaries, clothing, medical and nursing equipment, and books from the past—that offer a glimpse into the practices and experiences of nurses across time.
Included in its collections is a disparate selection of toys, games, and tools, which offer a vantage on pediatric and public health nursing as well as early promotional items meant to entice children to consider products or urge them toward the profession. A look at a few of those objects BY THE NUMBERS.
52: number of cards in the “Cheer Up” playing cards set. Stagecraft products, UVA. No date.
0/8
27 Books in the Cherry Ames series, written by Helen Wells and Julie Tatham between 1943 and 1968, which topped many girls' reading lists, though they were later dismissed as propaganda.
1/8
5: number of cards included with this "Preschool Vision Test" kit used by nurses in the 1970s. Also included: a 15-foot string, a spinning toy, an occluder, and a flashlight.
2/8
1915: the year that this family of WWI-era painted metal toys was produced.
3/8
2: examples in the Center of products targeted to children. Nurse Nancy, by Kathryn Jackson (1958), included several colorful BAND-AID brand bandages for “teaching first-aid habits" to kids . . .
4/8
Noted the donor of this clown-shaped container: “Drug companies often sought ways to promote their products . . . This cute little critter was a medicine sample for children in the 1940s or 50s."
5/8
11: number of rubber hand puppets in a set use by pediatric nurse practitioner students in the 1970s who visited schoolchildren to familiarize them with hospital roles.
6/8
5: number of cards included with this "Preschool Vision Test" kit used by nurses in the 1970s. Also included: a 15-foot string, a spinning toy, an occluder, and a flashlight.
7/8