Mary Adelaide Nutting (November 1, 1858 – October 3, 1948) was a Canadian nurse, educator, and pioneer in the field of hospital care. After graduating from Johns Hopkins University's first nurse training program in 1891, Nutting helped to found a modern nursing program at the school. In 1907, she became involved in an experimental program at the new Teachers College at Columbia University. Ascending to the role of chair of the nursing and health department, Nutting authored a vanguard curriculum based on preparatory nursing education, public health studies, and social service emphasis. She served as president of a variety of councils and committees that served to standardize nursing education and ease the process of meshing nurse-profession interest with state legislation. Nutting was also the author of a multitude of scholarly works relating to the nursing field, and her work, A History of Nursing, remains an essential historic writing today. She is remembered for her legacy as a pioneer in the field of nursing, but also her activist role in a time where women still had limited rights.
Early life
In November 1858, Mary Adelaide Nutting was born to Vespasian and Harriet Sophia Nutting at a hospital in Frost Village, District of East Canada (present-day Quebec). Her parents were of English descent. Her ancestors seem to have been Loyalists who emigrated to Canada from the US. This was a common trend for many people who remained loyal to the English crown during the American Revolutionary War, and subsequent to the US victory fled the country to seek refuge in the British colony of Quebec. One of six children, she was particularly close to her only sister, who shared similar interest in the arts and music. At a young age, Nutting's family moved to Waterloo, and this is where she spent a better part of her childhood.
Education
Despite coming from meager economic means, all the children received an education at the local village academy. Nutting's father was a court clerk whose income made it difficult to make ends meet. However, he thought that it was essential that his children get the chance to attend school. A gifted student, passionate about her studies, Nutting studied at the Bute House School in Montreal, and spent a brief period at a convent school in St. Johns Newfoundland. In 1881, Nutting, along with her mother and her siblings, took up residence in Ottawa, where she became involved in the fields of music and design. Having found her first real niche, she spent a brief time studying the arts in Lowell, Massachusetts, and continued this education back in Ottawa. Nutting's sister was the principal at the Cathedral School for Girls, and this opened the door for Nutting's first real experience with teaching, as she spent a year instructing piano and music education. She is remembered as a very independent woman, and made the personal decision early on to not marry to prevent any hindrance of her career aspirations.
Affiliation with Johns Hopkins University
Nutting had an early interest in the arts, but, largely influenced by her admiration for Florence Nightingale, the British war-time nurse and patron of the modern nursing field, she developed a budding interest in nursing. This was compounded by the fact that Nutting underwent the painful experience of watching her mother slowly die at the hands of "incompetent" health care. Almost by sheer chance, she came across a newspaper article advertising for a brand-new opportunity to participate in a nurse training program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Johns Hopkins nursing program
In October 1889, at the age of 31, Nutting was one of 17 students to enroll in the inaugural class at the Johns Hopkins school of nursing. This training program was a unique opportunity because admission required no prior experience or higher education; also, those who came from humble means still had accessibility to the school because rather than charge admission, students were required to work at the hospital and received a small salary. Nutting graduated from Johns Hopkins in 1891, placing fourth in her class. She decided to remain on the campus, taking a position as head nurse. In 1893, Nutting was promoted to assistant superintendent, and served under her close acquaintance Isabel Hampton. When Hampton made the decision to resign just a year later, Nutting assumed the role as superintendent and principal of the nursing school, which entailed both administrative and hospital service leadership.