Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale (b.1820-d.1910) founded modern nursing and helped improve the care provided by hospitals. She was named after her birthplace, Florence, Italy.  Raised in England, her father provided her a good education through tutors, especially in classics and mathematics.  Her family discouraged her from seeking a career in nursing, since up to that time nurses had mostly been religious, monastic women or untrained helpers of little training or low repute.  Nonetheless, she perceived a calling, and trained in Egypt, Germany and France, before winding up serving in a home for "gentlewomen" suffering from illness in London. 
From there, she went with 38 other nurses to help in the Crimean War (1854-56). She became famous for her dedication toward the welfare of her patients, earning the nickname "the Lady with the Lamp" for her tending the sick through the night.  More significantly, she sought to improve sanitary conditions in the medical facilities.  She proved her case through statistical analysis, using what she called "coxcombs," now known as "polar-area diagrams."  Her proof of the effectiveness of proper hygiene for the recovery from wounds and disease led to a reform of the entire military hospital system.  
After the war, using money donated from her former patients and the public, she founded the Nightingale Training School and Home for Nurses.  This institution continued to improve what was becoming the nursing profession.  But she remained unmarried, and retreated increasingly into the isolation of her home because of ill health. Yet through her writing, she remained an important consultant on health issues, winning fame, awards, and honors during her lifetime. In 1907, she was the first woman to be granted the British Order of Merit.    

Annotated Bibliography

Andrews, Mary Raymond Shipman. A Lost Commander: Florence Nightingale. Garden City: Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1929.
A Lost Commander discusses Nightingale's life through her letters. The letters help portray the feelings of Nightingale, especially through the Crimean war. There is also a brief description on the struggle of Nightingale starting the first nursing school. Overall, the book provides a brief glance across the life of Miss Nightingale without getting into much detail in any one area.

Cook, Edward Tyas, Sir. The Life of Florence Nightingale. New York: Macmillan Company, 1942.
This is the book that other people turn to when writing a biography on Florence Nightingale -- perhaps the most detailed of any book written about her. This book describes, in great detail, all the events influencing Miss Nightingale's life. Additional information is supplied through letters to and from Miss Nightingale, as well as letters written from her friends to their family members. Overall, this work by Sir Edward Cook is very well-written and uses exceptional bibliographical notations.

"The Faith Behind the Famous: Florence Nightingale." Christian History, February 1990.
In an article that briefly touches on the plight of Miss Nightingale, "the Faith Behind the Famous" gives the reader an idea of the success Miss Nightingale had in starting out as a young woman receiving God's call into service. The article also touches on some of the problems that Miss Nightingale encountered by not following traditional roles. The article also reviews her success in dealing with a male dominated society.

"Florence Nightingale: Constructing a Vocation." Anglican Theological Review, Summer, 1996.
This article looks at Miss Nightingale's career from a theological perspective. The author tries to analyze how her belief in God played a role in Miss Nightingale's life and how she was inspired to live a chaste life in service of her fellow human beings. The article also reflects on Miss Nightingale's disputation of the commonly-held opinion that women are inferior to men, arguing instead that women are just as capable to man in reasoning.

Huxley, Elspeth. Florence Nightingale. New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1975.
The simple title of this book does not do it justice. This book reflects more on the life of Florence Nightingale than most, through sketches, portraits, pictures, and cartoons. The book offers little new information in reference to Miss Nightingale. But, just on the illustrations alone, one could get a better idea of the people influenced by Miss Nightingale.

"In Honor of Florence." Primarily Nursing, 1 March 1994.
This brief article is an excerpt from a speech Miss Nightingale gave in 1867. In this speech Miss Nightingale talks about the responsibility of leadership that all nurses face. Miss Nightingale also talks about the way a true leader must act, and how they should act at all times. To view this entire speech would be ideal, but the brief glimpse is enough to show what kind of leader Miss Nightingale was herself.

Monteiro, Lois A. Letters of Florence Nightingale. Boston: Boston University Mugar Memorial Library, 1974.
The Letters of Florence Nightingale provide a researcher with an excellent primary source of information. However, the letters are not complete in their content, nor is there a chronological or alphabetical order to their arrangement. The book does provide, however, complete copies of three letters written by Miss Nightingale herself. This book is useful in seeing the problems Nightingale had in getting services and aide throughout her career.

Smith, Cecil Woodham. Florence Nightingale, 1820-1910. Toronto: Longmans, Green and Company, 1950.
A very detailed account of Miss Nightingale's life, Smith's biography ranges, literally, from cradle to grave. Smith uses a vast amount of historic documents to support hers book. Smith also uses letters by Miss Nightingale as well as memoirs of other predominant Victorian people. No biography would be complete without first referencing this book. In addition, Smith also augments her book with rare illustrations.

Strachey, Lytton. Eminent Victorians: Cardinal Manning, Florence, Dr. Arnold, Gen. Gordon. New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1925.
Among these eminent Victorians, Miss Nightingale's brief, biography (67 pages) covers most of her life. The majority of the pages (45) covers her two years in the Crimean war and how she helped change conditions for the wounded, and her success at establishing a nursing school. Overall, the book does an admirable job in giving a brief history of a life filled with many accomplishments.

Wyndham, Lee. Florence Nightingale: Nurse to the World. New York: The World Publishing Company, 1969.
The Nurse to the World provides very little useful information in regards to the life of Miss Nightingale. Most of the information is based on other secondary sources and does not provide much in the way of scholarly research. This book is best used as a prelude to any serious research on Miss Nightingale. It appears to be written more for a younger person doing a book report for school.

Audain, Cynthia. "Florence Nightingale." Biographies of Women Mathematicians 3 June 1999. <http://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/nitegale.htm> (7 November  2005).  Good article (much copied and quoted on the web) about Nightingale, focusing on her use of statistics.  Relies on Cohen article for key information (see below).

Bruner, Jerome. "Florence Nightingale." Spartacus Schoolnet. No date. <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REnightingale.htm> (5 January 2005).  Good biography, with bibliography, links to other important terms, and a classroom project project comparing her efforts with Mary Seacole.  

Cohen, Bernard I. "Florence Nightingale."  Sociology 208 - STATISTICS FOR SOCIOLOGISTS
Professor François Nielsen Fall 2002. <http://www.unc.edu/~nielsen/soci208/cdocs/cohen.htm> (5 January 2005).  A scanned version of an article (Cohen, I. B. "Florence Nightingale," Scientific American, 250 (March 1984),128-137) with good review of Nightingale's charts and statistics, with pictures.  

"Nursing resources."  Online Health resources. 2004 <http://www.onlinehealthresources.com/Nursing/> (5 January 2005).
Directory of Nursing related websites.

McDonald, Joseph.  "Country Joe McDonald's Tribute to Florence Nightingale." Last updated December 11, 2003.  < http://www.dnai.com/~borneo/nightingale/>  (5 January 2005).
Written by the musician, inspired by his interest in nursing during the Viet Nam war  This is a fair site with some useful information organized around a timeline.  It talks about her accomplishments and how the medical field has benefited from her work.  Includes a chat room, and cartoons.

Pulliam, Deborah, Florence Nightingale, the Lady with the Lamp. 1998. <http://womenshistory.about.com/library/prm/blladywiththelamp1.htm> (5 January 2005).  
Brief history (showing picture of a statue, whose caption offers the correct description of her famous lamp), originally printed in British Heritage magazine.  

O'Connor, J J  and E F Robertson. "Florence Nightingale." The MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive. October 2003. <http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Nightingale.html> (5 January 2005).  An excellent, detailed review of her life and accomplishments.  With references, quotes, pictures and a few links.  

Stuber, Irene. "Women of Achievment and Herstory: Florence Nightengale".  Women's Internet Information Network, Inc. 2004. <http://www.undelete.org/woa/woa05-12.html> (5 January 2005).
This gives a brief account of her life.  This is a site devoted to women and offers many links that may be useful in finding more information.

Primary Sources:  

"A Selection of Letters Written by Florence Nightingale."  University of Kansas Medical Center.  January 2001.  <http://clendening.kumc.edu/dc/fn/> (5 January 2005).
Primary sources, with links to several other sites.  

McDonald, Lynn. "The Collected Works of Florence Nightengale." Florence Nightengale Project.  2004. <http://www.sociology.uoguelph.ca/fnightingale/> (5 January 2005).  Growing compilation of primary sources.  

"Florence Nightingale on Rural Hygiene."  Modern History Sourcebook. 1997. <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/nightingale-rural.html> (5 January 2005).

Copy of London Times obituary:  <http://www.aam314.vzz.net/Nightingale.html> (5 January 2005).

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URL: http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/florence.html Biography by Brian A. Pavlac Original bibliography written by Ralph Bagnuolo, 1998 February [Some revisions by Paul Lindenmuth in 2000] Last Revision: 2005 January 5 Copyright © MMV Prof. Pavlac's Women's History Site