The Swedish Hospital Training School for Nurses was founded in 1910 at the hospital's first location on Belmont Avenue in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. Applicants to the nursing school had to be female, aged 18-35, and high school graduates. Students had to outfit themselves with four gingham dresses, 12 aprons, six collars, and two pairs of "high black leather shoes with low military heels, rubber capped." Initially the three-year program was affiliated with Children's Orthopedic Hospital (now Seattle Children's Hospital), then in 1946 the nursing school combined with the University of Washington School of Nursing. In the 1980s, Swedish signed an affiliation agreement with Seattle Pacific University and provided space for classes at the hospital.
The program pictured here is for the nursing school's 1921 graduation ceremony, held at Swedish Tabernacle Church (now First Covenant Church) at 400 Pike Street on Capitol Hill. Events of the day included several musical performances as well as an address by Dr. Nils A. Johanson (1872-1946), founder of Swedish Hospital.
Members of the graduating class listed in the program are: Mary Catherine Baldwin, Jessie L. Cassel, Gertrude Viola Edenholm, Julia Falkner, Aileen Gillette, Gertie Hytmo, Thyra Kilander, Elwha E. Krueger, Clara E. Lindman, Marjorie Lonas, Olga Christine Mesford, Ida Elizabeth Metz, Ragnhild Elizabeth Olson, Selma Marie Olson, Lillian Victoria Orr, Gertrude Jame Oswald, Petrovia Pearson, Lillian R. Peterson, Elsie L. Schreiber, Elsa Thomsen, Elvira O. Tollefsen, Grace Agnes Turner, Bertha Louise Vaas, and Evelyn A. Wallin.
Caption information source: "Swedish Medical Center (Seattle)," by Jennifer Ott, HistoryLink.org Essay 9572.
Physical Description: 1 folded program (6 p.) ; 4.25 x 6.25 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
