American Journal of Nursing

How different is nursing today from 1900? A reproduction of the first issue of the American Journal of Nursing (AJN), the worlds oldest and highest circulation nursing journal, will show you. Published in October of 1900 with Sophia Palmer as editor, this journal was the first to be owned and managed by nurses and for nurses. It was the official publication of the Associated Alumnae of Trained Nurses of the United States, the precursor to the American Nurses Association. Its contents include discussions of important topics of the day written by some of nursings legends:: what nurses could expect from the law, written by Lavinia Dock; specialties in nursing by Katherine De Witt, hospital economics by Isabel Hampton Robb; the work of nurses at the Henry Street Settlement House by Lillian Wald; a nurses experience on the ship, The Maine, on its journey to South Africa to provide support during the second Boer War; and The Relation of Bacteriology to Preventive Medicine and Infant Feeding by physicians. Youll find news of hospitals and their alumnae associations, proceedings of the third convention of the Associated Alumnae, and fascinating ads for things such as the female urinal, nurses uniforms, and even champagne. This historic treasure provides a fascinating glimpse of nursing as it was more than a century ago, leaving todays readers reflecting on how much things change--or stay the same.