A century ago this year, Florence Nightingale died at age 90. Nurse, war hero, educator, public health reformer, and spiritual seeker, Nightingale surmounted the constricted role assigned to Victorian upper-class women to become internationally famous for her work as a nurse. She remains a figure of veneration to millions.

The Columbia Health Sciences Library is commemorating this anniversary with an exhibit showcasing the many different facets of Nightingale’s life. On display are original letters, contemporary photographs and prints, and first editions of many of her books. Highlights include the Nightingale family bible with Florence’s signature on the title page of the New Testament; an inscribed copy of the first edition of her groundbreaking "Notes on Nursing" (1860); a manuscript of "To Florence Nightingale of England" by the American poet John Greenleaf Whittier; and a fragment of a diary kept by Nightingale when she visited the battlefield of Balaclava during the Crimean War.

The Auchincloss Florence Nightingale Collection holds more than 250 letters by her; several dozen letters to her; books she wrote or owned; books about her; and prints, photographs, and drawings. Since 1979, it has been housed in the Health Sciences Library’s Archives & Special Collections. Created by Dr. Hugh Auchincloss (1878-1947), Professor of Clinical Surgery at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the collection was presented by him to the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing, now the Columbia University School of Nursing, in May 1932.
 

The Many Worlds of Florence Nightingale: An Exhibit Commemorating the Centennial of Her Death
Teaching & Learning Center
Hammer Health Sciences Building, Lower Level 2
Sept. 15 – Dec. 22, 2010

The exhibit is open students, staff, and faculty of Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

The exhibit was curated by Stephen E. Novak, Head, Archives & Special Collections. For more information contact him at hslarchives@columbia.edu