The semester may be slowing down, but your SCRC processing team isn’t! This month we’re dedicating our full new finding aids blog post to a fun and detailed scrapbook compiled by a nursing student back in the 1920s. If you want to see more after checking out the below highlights, you’re in luck, as the scrapbook is processed and available for use in the Special Collections Research Center and the finding aid is available on our website (or use the link included below).
Edith Malleis nursing student scrapbook, C0519
Collection processed by Meghan Glasbrenner
A “My Kodak Memory Book” scrapbook containing photographs, ephemera, letters, and cards compiled by nursing student Edith L. Malleis from 1924-1927. Edith was born on October 22, 1896. In 1924 she enrolled in the nurse’s training program at Newman Memorial County Hospital in Emporia, Kansas, two years after the hospital’s founding in 1922. Near the conclusion of her three years of training she spent four months working at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri from November 1926 – March 1927, at the end of which she received her Affiliated Nurse Certificate in Children’s Nursing on March 15, 1927. Edith graduated from the Newman Hospital Training School in 1927. She passed away on June 24, 1985 at the age of 88 and is buried in Halstead Cemetery in Halstead, Kansas.
“Newman Memorial County Hospital – Emporia, KS where 3 yrs. were spent in nurses training”, C0519
The photographs cover a range of subjects including hospital buildings, staff, daily student life, babies born at the hospital, leisure activities, and student accomplishments. Most photographs have identifications or playful captions written in pen on the image itself.
“See Our Babies!”, remaining inscriptions identify individuals, and one baby, by name or position, C0519
Left: “Keeping office”, Right: “Dr. Brown, Mock Operation”, C0519
Left: “Inseparable Pals”, Top Right: “Our favorite driver”, Bottom Right: “C. of E. gym – where we flocked on hot summer days for a ‘swim'”, C0519
“The house not us” inscription referring to “For Sale” sign on house exterior, C0519
The additional items include personal letters, a few still in envelopes, performance programs and other mementos, poems and pledges, buttons, greeting cards, business cards and handwritten notes from classmates, and numerous certificates, programs, and cards related to graduation.
Materials documenting Edith’s four months training at Children’s Mercy Hospital, C0519
Cards, notes, and mementoes related to Edith’s graduation from the nursing program at Newman Memorial County Hospital , C0519
Left: Ticket stubs and full fold-out programs, Right: General mementoes and clippings, C0519
Newman Hospital Training School Class of 1927, Edith has identified each individual in the photograph, C0519
Follow SCRC on Social Media and look out for future posts on our Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky accounts. To search the collections held at Special Collections Research Center, go to our website and browse the finding aids by subject or title. You may also e-mail us at speccoll@gmu.edu or call 703-993-2220 if you would like to schedule an appointment, request materials, or if you have questions.
