Location: University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Suite 2U, Claire M. Fagin Hall, 418 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4217
Contact: 215-898-4502, nhistory@nursing.upenn.edu
Access: by appointment, contact center with research interests before visiting
Website address: https://www.nursing.upenn.edu/history/
The Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing is the preeminent nursing history archive and research center in the world. Our priority is to increase understanding of the importance of nursing history and health care to the development of effective health policy and patient care strategies. The Bates Center contains archival and manuscript material, along with a library containing approximately 2,000 books, monographs and other printed materials. Research topics include international nursing; nursing and public policy; home-based nursing; visiting nurse associations; nursing in epidemics and war; the care of the critically ill; nursing education; nursing ethics; nursing as both an occupation and a professional identity; nursing for specific populations such as women and children and individuals with psychiatric illnesses; and the twentieth century relationship between nursing and American philanthropy.
The Centre offers a fellowship for research at the graduate level.