http://198.66.139.217/collections/bellevuefa.htm;
University of New Hampshire School of Nursing
The few that have recorded the thought process that went into the cap design indicate that the design may refer to a variety of concrete features or to virtues inherent in the wearer as a member of the nursing profession (http://www.me.vccs.edu/dept/ietech/nursing/history.htm;). Some aspects of the cap designs are to reflect geographical features (mountain peaks around a valley that houses the school), or characteristics of the nurse such as each pleat standing for vigilance, nurturing, steadfastness, or the like. Often the cap is based on an existing program's cap because of its historic significance. Many programs say that their caps used the Bellevue, Sinai, or Florence Nightingale schools' caps as their starting point.
Still, why did each school feel that their cap should be unique and distinguished from other programs?
That is less likely to be documented. How and when this trend started is up for debate. It is obvious from historic photographs that the trend started early in the growth of nursing programs, But again, why? Geographic isolation and lack of communication between and among early programs may be one reason that caps slowly morphed into variants of an existing cap (example a copy of a copy of a copy). I also think that it is likely that as differences among caps became obvious, schools began to take pride in the differences and the resulting brand identity of the cap. Thus, the desire for a cap with unique features that could only be attributed to that one specific school became the norm. These hypotheses will hopefully be supported in findings from my future research. Stay tuned.
Check out some of the historic caps at: marlyn-boyd.fineartamerica.com
Hello Marilyn! I cannot believe that your post has been here for more than 5 years, and yet no one has responded. Please allow me to be the first here to let you know how much I enjoyed reading your post and how much I enjoyed viewing your artwork. I developed a very early fascination, bordering on obsession, with nurses caps as soon as I was old enough to know what they were! I learned how to recognize that each cap design meant a different School of Nursing. I also learned in the second grade how to begin creating my own caps when we made pilgrim girls bonnets for a Thanksgiving pageant that we had at the school. That translated to the standard two button cap style and from there I went on to create not only my own simple designs but emulate others as I saw them. No piece of large white plain paper in our house was safe from my cap design efforts for several years!
ReplyDeleteI even got the opportunity to attend LPN school two years after I got married but unfortunately was unable to finish because I had to drop out of the program to become an "M-O-M" instead of an LPN! 😁 However I was there long enough to participate in our capping ceremony, and I finally got my own genuine nursing cap. Unfortunately I wasn't able to wear it after I had to leave school but I still have it. Years later I was able to return to school, however I was not going back to become a nurse, but a Certified Surgical Technologist. I had discovered this program at the same school where I went to LPN training but wasn't aware of it before I started that because I didn't even know that the profession existed. I thought everybody in the Operating Room was a nurse or a doctor, like everybody else did. However, it held an even greater fascination for me than nursing. And it turned out to be the place where I really belonged. I was able to participate in that fascinating profession for over 15 years.
Thanks again for sharing your talents and skills with the rest of us. I am grateful you didn't decide to keep them all to yourself! Have a wonderful Holiday season! And I'll be looking for more of your beautiful work and interesting blog posts!
Hello Marlyn - my humble apologies for not spelling your name correctly in my first post above! You can imagine I'm sure, that with MY first name, I have been dealing with that same issue all my life! There has yet to be, in all my 59 years, a single individual who has been able to spell it correctly the first time 'round! And almost as rarely, pronounce it properly! I've gotten "Shah-ree," "Share-ra," "Shirley" (puh-leeese!) and even "Sharon!" Now, I ask you, is there an "N" anywhere in my name? Or an "L"??
ReplyDeleteI know - you've probably been "Marilyn" most of your life as well, and when I noticed what had happened, I do think because of my "SpellGuess" programming on my phone, that it "adjusted" the spelling FOR me, even though I had written it properly the first time! But, I must take the final blame for it, since proofreading is MY responsibility! Seems to be a badly needed skill which is rapidly dying a sad and undeserved death! I blame THAT on the over reliance on "Spell Check" or even NO reliance on it! Some think spellcheck also functions as a syntax checker as well, and while some may, most do not. Others either don't know how, and don't WANT to know how, to turn it on or otherwise make it function properly on their devices, OR they don't know how to teach it to function within the parameters of their own speech patterns. So, in no case does it function properly for any of these folks. The other part is that you must possess some level of functional grammar, spelling AND punctuation skills in order to know if it's working properly! Did you mean "to," "two," or "too?" How about "they're," "there," or "their?" If you can't spell them correctly IN their proper usage, then how are you supposed to know if the Spell Check function of your device is selecting the right one? And, this goes all the way back to the beginning of education in those skills the first years of grammar school! Appropriate name for them, but they don't seem to be teaching those skills as definitively as they are desperately needed!
OK - I'll get back down off my "Grammar Police" soapbox now! Being raised by three generations of University and K-12 educators, it's kind of difficult sometimes NOT to find myself up there!
Ah, well, and I only came here to apologize for not spelling your name properly! 😎
This is the first time I've seen your post. I am a nurse, and my first nursing job was in a large teaching hospital, and medical school. There were lots of nurses, and all different types of nurse's caps, some totally bizarre. My belief was that all the nursing schools tried to outdo each other to see who could come up with the most oddest cap. Just think, all the new nursing schools that have started since the caps became extinct, what we are missing out on.
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