What words would you use to describe a nurse? Caring? Compassionate? Ok, those are qualities that nurses have. What about professional, dedicated, intelligent, and self-sacrificing? Yup, they all apply, too. Now imagine yourself back in 1896. What words would you use to describe the Victorian nurse? Well, come to think of it, pretty much the same ones!
I am a Registered Nurse and proud of my profession. I’ve been active in SASS for over five years, and I’ve really taken a shine to the costuming aspect of the sport. I’ve been toying with an idea for some time now for how I could combine my job with Cowboy Action Shooting. No, I don’t mean shoot someone and then remove the bullet. Where would the fun be in that? That would be too much like work! No, I wanted to reproduce an authentic nurse’s uniform that I could--well, show off--and still shoot in. My only problem was that I wasn’t sure where to start. And so my research began.
We’ve all heard stories of Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton, just two of the many pioneers in nursing. But did you know that most nurses before the 1880’s were little more than glorified maids? They were frequently hired by the wealthy as child care providers and midwives. Some worked in hospitals and sanatoriums, but remember the thinking of the time was that you were taking a big risk going to a hospital for care. More often than not, if you went there you died. Most people stayed at home and were treated by their town physician and older experienced family members. But all of these nurses had to have the same basic education, and that wasn’t an easy thing to accomplish.
Nurses have been around since the dawn of time, but schools of nursing weren’t well established until the latter half of the 19th century coinciding with advances and discoveries in medical technology. These schools taught the basic principles of nursing uniformly to their students. The young lady (because a man becoming a nurse was a social faux pas) had to come from a good home with upstanding parents in the community, be an active member in her church, must have completed all of her schooling and received good grades, and had to have the purest morals and values. Letters of reference written on her behalf from community leaders, heads of the church, and nurses who had graduated from the school to which the new hopeful was applying were often required by the school administration. In other words, they weren’t easy to get into, and once you were there you had to work your butt off to stay there!
Student nurses usually went to school during the day, then worked in the hospital or the dorm in the evenings. A student nurse often was up for sixteen hours a day, what with school, work and evenings in her room studying for tomorrow’s lesson. But before she did that she had to wash her clothes, read the Good Book, tidy her room, etc. She ate, slept, worked, and breathed nursing. The girl was usually given the Sabbath off to attend church and to visit with her family. No members of the opposite sex were allowed to fraternize with her, and she was expected to rebuff all their advances unless the young man had made the proper arrangements with her family. If a student was caught with a boy on campus, or Heaven forbid, in the dorm--that was scandalous! She would be immediately expelled, her reputation ruined. The shame that this brought upon the girl’s family was overwhelming.
The ones that did graduate were proud of their accomplishment. In antique photos of nurses, you can see their determination and confidence in their eyes. After graduation, they set off to seek employment. The ones that worked in the hospitals are my heroes. They were subservient to doctors, however, a thing that was taught to them in school. If a nurse questioned a doctor’s order, she might get a slap in the face or even worse, loose her job on the spot. A nurse would have to give up her seat to a physician even though she was working her fifth sixteen-hour day in a row. And whenever a doctor entered a room, the nurse had to stand in his presence. Compare that to today when nurses and doctors are colleagues who together care for patients and their families. They are equals in the field of medicine when it comes to patient care, with the nurse being the direct communication line between the patient and the doctor.
Ok, so enough history. You get the idea. Nursing was not easy. One of my friends happened to meet a guy who collected antique nursing paraphernalia. He gave me his phone number, and we set a date so that I could see his collection. It was overwhelming! There were hundreds of pictures of nurses from 1860’s through 1890’s each wearing different uniforms, the instruments they used, nursing pins, books they were taught from, and letters to and from their friends and families The uniforms were my primary interest so I concentrated on the pictures to get some ideas. After narrowing down the enormous pile of pictures to about ten, I found myself drawn to the time period of the late 1890’s, especially 1896. They had large balloon sleeves, straight full skirts, crisp white aprons, bow ties, caps, and some had chatelaines that held scissors and other instruments. Yeah, that’s the style uniform I wanted! I made copies of the pictures to use as a reference, thanked the collector again, and hurried home to design my uniform. I tried my best, but I just couldn’t come up with anything I liked. I was a little down, but not out.
One day I happened to be cruising through Truly Victorian’s on-line catalog of Victorian clothing patterns (trulyvictorian.netfirms.com/) when I noticed that Heather McNaughton, the owner of the company, had just put up two new patterns. They were an 1890’s Blouse Waist and a Day Skirt! I clicked on the icons and compared my pictures to the ones on the website. They were perfect, almost as if Heather had drafted the patterns just for me! I was super excited and couldn’t wait to get started! Now I needed all the accessories to make the uniform correct.
Luckily for me, I have become rather savvy at using some of the popular on-line auction sites for buying Victoriana (My husband doesn’t hold that same opinion, but we won’t talk about that now). I was able to purchase an 1877 school of nursing pin, 3 antique Red Cross pins, a nurse’s lapel watch, a chatelaine thermometer with an antique safety pin, antique mother of pearl nursing uniform buttons, and an 1895 nurses’ dictionary. Now that is cool! I also found a website that had reproduction nurses’ caps and purchased one that fit the 1896 time period uniform. One of my friends from the Carolina Belles’ bulletin board, Belle Alley (www.carolinabelles.net/vb/) informed me that there was an antique leather nurse’s chatelaine complete with instruments up for auction on line. I quickly went to the site and my jaw hit the floor. It was beautiful! I made notes about the tools inside, how it was constructed, and dimensions. Sadly, it sold for quite a bit more than I was expecting but at least now I had a design to follow to make my own.
Most nurses’ uniforms were made out of dark-colored wool for winter and lightweight silks and cottons for the summer. I don’t do heat or humidity well, and if I had used a dark colored wool I would have melted like the Wicked Witch of the West. So I decided to make mine out of silk and cotton so that the uniform would “breathe” in the humid climate here on the East coast. One of the nurses in the antique photos had a uniform made of a pretty pale striped fabric, and I fell in love with it. Now Delaware is in a fabric wasteland. I have yet to find a really good fabric store nearby other than the chain craft stores (so if you know of one, drop me a line!) Once again, I was off to the Internet to purchase fabric. And what do you know; I found some pretty light blue and white striped silk almost right away that was perfect!
A nurse was expected to act and dress like a Victorian lady right down to her foundation garments. As most of you costume aficionados know, seven layers of underwear were appropriate. Did I really want to be this authentic, right down to the petticoats? Unfortunately, I did (insert big sigh here). I had most of what I needed already, but not everything. My friend, Greeneyed Gypsy [insert SASS #] is a really neat person who just happens to do a little sewing from time to time (www.thegypsysneedle.com/). I found an original antique 1890’s petticoat pattern and sent it out to her. I just knew she couldn’t resist making something using an authentic pattern. She made me the petticoat plus a chemise and bloomer set. I let her keep the petticoat pattern as a thank you, because I know she’ll put it to good use. Besides that I think she’s pretty cool and I may have need of her services in the future!
I had everything I needed and I got right to work. The fabric was easy to work with and Heather’s patterns went together beautifully, just as I expected. I drafted my own nursing uniform apron so that it was “shooter friendly”. There are no buttons on the shoulder straps to interfere with the long guns’ stocks, and there is no giant bow in the back to interfere with my rig. I put it all on, seven foundation garments included, plus my new wig that Gypsy’s mom, Greeneyed Nana, styled. When I looked at my reflection in the full length mirror, my breath caught in my throat. I looked just like the nurses in those antique pictures, the ones that I admired for making nursing the career that it is today. I’m sure they would have been proud of the job I did.
I accomplished just what I set out to do. I’ve worn my uniform now a few times, including into the hospital where I work, and the comments are always the same. They can’t get over how wonderful the ensemble looks, and they love looking at the leather chatelaine I made with its accessories. The costume reflects the characteristics of nursing during the Victorian time period, and the journey that I took to make it was extremely worth while. It’s as if I’ve been able to open a window into the past, and gotten of glimpse of their world……….and it’s fun to share that world with others even if it’s only for an afternoon on a weekend!
