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Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History
Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History© 2018 Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History
Heather Crocetto
The collection is open for research.
There are no restrictions.
Records from the School Health Nurses, Arlington Public Schools, Collection # RG 169, Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History
Donated by Alethea Kolhonen, former School Nurse Supervisor, on May 8, 2007.
School health work began with Arlington's Public Health Department; tuberculosis, typhoid and diphtheria were the most pressing problems. An Arlington County Health Officer was appointed in 1923, and a public health nurse was assigned exclusively to the schools.
In 1939, the School Health Department came under the control of the Board of Education, and a full-time medical director was appointed. A Nursing Supervisor position was created in 1948. School nurses were transferred to the Department of Human Resources in 1973 and merged with Public Health nurses in 1983.
The files of the School Health Nurses of Arlington Public Schools cover the time period from the 1950s to 1990, but include some as early as 1934 and some from the 1940s. During that time, School Nurses were moved from the jurisdiction of the Department of Education to the Department of Human Resources, and then merged with Public Health Nurses. The collection measures 6.7 linear feet.
Series 1 hold general administrative files, dealing with budgets, committees, staff meetings and school health history. The Staff Meeting files are comprehensive, from 1955 to 1979. Personnel files, including job descriptions, make up Series 2 . Reports are in Series 3 ; of special interest are the School Narrative Reports, which the nurses wrote at the conclusion of each school year describing the conditions and events of that particular school. Most nurses covered more than one school. These reports cover the years from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s.
Series 4 contains files on medical information and nurses' education. It also includes many issues of publications of interest to school nurses, including Health Education and the Journal of School Health .
Series 5 deals specifically with the transfer of the School Nurses from the Department of Education to the Department of Human Resources in 1973, and then again the merger of School Nurses with Public Health Nurses in 1983. Series 6 are photographs.
The files arrived in various forms, some in file folders, some in binders, and some just loosely laid in boxes. Some were labeled, some were not. The files are arranged into six series by the archivist. The files were arranged in chronological and/or alphabetical order.
Two files contained floppy discs which are currently unread. They are in Series 3, Subseries 1, Files 17 and 18. The description on the floppy discs for File 17 reads "Nurses Reports, (FY 80)," and "'86 Statistics (Formatted 4/2/86)." "Nurses Worksheets FY-1987 (formatted 7/30/86)" is the label on File 18.
Series 6 are photographs, most of which were in envelopes with no identification. Each envelope was placed in a separate file and given a description by the archivist. Files with photographs outside of Series 6 have an asterisk [*] after the folder title.
RG 7, Arlington County Public Schools
RG 21, Records of the Arlington County Departments of Health