Dolan Collection Nursing History Blog

Josephine Dolan,  founding curator, was the first instructor of nursing at the University Of Connecticut School of Nursing. She became interested in nursing history when she was given a nursing history course to teach in the nursing program. In order to write a book on the history of nursing, Dolan collected materials from dealers or, in the case of the Wolcott series, from descendants of the family. Dolan donated her collection of nursing artifacts, documents and ephemera to UConn School of Nursing in 1996. The collection was substantially expanded and organized by co-curators Professor Emerita Eleanor Krohn Herrmann and alumna Mary Ann Cordeau (Quinnipiac University). More recently curator and Assistant Professor Jennifer Casavant Telford instituted a digital inventory and catalogue and helped prepare the display areas in the atrium of the new Widmer Wing of Storrs Hall, which is open to the public seven days a week. Currently Dolan Collection Curator is Thomas Lawrence Long, associate professor in residence.