American Journal of Nursing

How different is nursing today from 1900? A reproduction of the first issue of the American Journal of Nursing (AJN), the world's oldest and highest circulation nursing journal, will show you. Published in October of 1900 with Sophia Palmer as editor, this journal was the first to be owned and managed by nurses and for nurses. It was the official publication of the Associated Alumnae of Trained Nurses of the United States, the precursor to the American Nurses Association. Its contents include discussions of important topics of the day written by some of nursing's legends: what nurses could expect from the law, written by Lavinia Dock; specialties in nursing by Katherine De Witt, "hospital economics" by Isabel Hampton Robb; the work of nurses at the Henry Street Settlement House by Lillian Wald; a nurse's experience on the ship, The Maine, on its journey to South Africa to provide support during the second Boer War; and "The Relation of Bacteriology to Preventive Medicine" and "Infant Feeding" by physicians. You'll find news of hospitals and their alumnae associations, proceedings of the third convention of the Associated Alumnae, and fascinating ads for things such as the female urinal, nurses' uniforms, and even champagne. This historic treasure provides a fascinating glimpse of nursing as it was more than a century ago, leaving today's readers reflecting on how much things change--or stay the same.