Preservation Assessment of the Collections at the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing

FAIN: PG-51181-11

University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA 19104-6205)
Patricia O'Brien D'Antonio (Project Director: May 2010 to December 2011)

A preservation assessment of the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing's collection of manuscripts, photographs, rare books, and artifacts documenting the history of nursing and public health throughout the United States. The collection includes the records of the Starr Center of Philadelphia, an early 20th-century settlement house whose nurses were the first to treat African American patients in the segregated community.

This proposal seeks funding to support a preservation needs assessment survey of the collections at the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing (Bates Center) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. In September 2009, the most significant and used parts of the collections moved into newly renovated space. The new space has state of the art temperature and humidity controls, although they have been problematic.