North Carolina Nurses' Association Records
The North Carolina Nurses’ Association digital collection has material from 1920 through the early 2000s, including the papers of F. Virginia Marshbanks (1885-1978), who served as director of the NCNA, superintendent of Rex Hospital, and president of the North Carolina League of Nursing Education. Other materials include administrative reports, correspondence, memorabilia, conference pamphlets, photographs from NCNA events, and meeting minutes from the North Carolina Negro Nurses’ Association.
The F. Virginia Marshbanks Papers
The F. Virginia Marshbanks Papers document Marshbanks’ career and help illustrate the professionalization of nursing and the leadership of women in the field, in part through Marshbanks’ friendship with Mary L. Wyche, the founder of the NCNA. Marshbanks was also an integral part of operations at Rex Hospital, including patient care and supervision of student nurses. Her papers include reports to the board, daily correspondence, a yearbook, and programs for graduation ceremonies and other events.
When the North Carolina Nurses’ Association was founded, it included a bylaw that barred Black nurses from joining the organization. This led to the establishment of the North Carolina Negro Registered Nurses’ Association, created by Black registered nurses to foster community and help advance Black nurses. The North Carolina Negro Registered Nurses’ Association merged with the North Carolina Nurses’ Association in 1949. This digital collection contains the minutes of the meetings of the original North Carolina Negro Registered Nurses Association from its inception until the merger with the NCNA.
At the time of the creation of the association, the term “Negro” was used in academic and professional settings to refer to people of African American and occasionally American Indian ethnicity. The name of this association is retained here to ensure historical provenance.