Information to Users
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zed) Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 LAVINIA LLOYD DOCK: AN ACTIVIST IN NURSING AND SOCIAL REFORM DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Mary Ann Bradford Burnam, M. S. The Ohio State University 1998 Dissertation Committee Approved by Professor Mary S. Leach, Adviser Professor John C. Burnham Adviser Professor Mary A. Ruffing-Rahal Education DMI Number: 9911166 UMI Microform 9911166 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Copyright by Mary Ann Bradford Burnam 1998 ABSTRACT This historical study focused on the life of Lavinia Lloyd Dock as a reformer in nursing and social movements during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Lavinia Dock was devoted to the ideals of freedom and justice for oppressed individuals. Her contributions as a reformer focused on the professionalization of nursing and the equality of women. She was among the early group of nurses who were committed to professionalizing nursing through development of organizations, improved educational standards, and registration. She gave her support, talents, and writing abilities to all of these early efforts to place nursing on a professional level. But she was also interested in the condition of woman as citizen and worker. Her early experiences with poor working women and providing nursing in the slums of New York City broadened her views to include women as a group for reform. Most of Lavinia Dock’s contributions to nursing and to improving women’s lives are known. However, the specifics of her development over time are less evident. Her words can give a clearer idea of her progress as she moved from reformer of nursing to social reformer of woman’s condition. She believed that women i i had to have equal citizenship, if they were going to improve their lives and the conditions of society. I have attempted to give some chronological sequence to the presentation of what she believed and did. I have used her published writings and personal letters to present the development of her ideas over time in addition to her achievements. I have tried to use primary and secondary sources of her day to correct what seems to be inaccurate information. Lavinia Dock gave her considerable ability to the development of nursing as a profession. But she did not limit herself to a narrow professional involvement. She asked nurses particularly and certainly any specific group of women to look beyond their own interests to the broader needs and benefits of all. She was an example of a socially conscience and committed individual. 111 Dedicated to Paul D. Burnam I V ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study required extensive use of library resources in various formats and could not have been accomplished without the assistance of many librarians and their associates. My appreciation goes to all those who gave their skills and encouragem ent. I wish to thank Paul Burnam, who was always willing to do one more computer search to locate one more resource. A special thanks goes to those, from Otterbein College, who gave continuous assistance. Mary Ellen Armentrout, interlibrary loan librarian, sought some very elusive items. Patricia Rothermich, reference librarian, gave support and guidance. LaVerne Austin, periodicals manager, always kept the microfilm reader working for long periods of use. Others gave invaluable assistance by lending their film resources. Barbara Van Brimmer at the Ohio State University loaned portions of the Adelaide Nutting Collection on microfiche. Joellen Locke of the Capital University Library loaned thirty years of the American Journal of Nursing on microfilm. Linda Slater at the University of Alberta, Canada, loaned many reels of microfilm containing the Lillian Wald papers at the New York Public Library. Janet Huettner at Indiana University suggested applying for Lavinia Dock's FBI file. The librarians at the Library of Congress gave initial assistance and later provided additional information. Thanks goes to all those who searched and retrieved many old and forgotten items from storage. I wish to thank my committee who supported my research topic and interest in a most talented woman. V I VITA April 4, 1945 .............................. Born - Dayton, Ohio, United States 1970 ............................................. M. S. Nursing, The Ohio State University 1970-1977 ................................ Instructor, School of Nursing, The Ohio State University 1 9 7 7 ............................................. Assistant Professor, 1991-present ............................ Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, Otterbein College FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Education VII TABLE OF CONTENTS Page A bstract....................................................................................................... i i Dedication .................................................................................................... i v Acknowledgments ............................................................................................... v V ita V i i C hapters: 1. Introduction......................................................................................................... 1 2. Early Y e ars ................................................................................................... 14 3. Early Years of Commitment ...................................................................... 32 4. Middle Years of Commitmentand Conscience ..................................... 79 5. Later Years of Commitment and Conscience ...................................... 204 Abbreviations: List of Archives.......................................................................... 273 N o te s ........................................................................................................................... 274 List of R eferences .....................................................................................................310 VIII CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Lavinia Dock wrote, "I had always had certain inarticulate instincts that were sound: - a strong sympathy with oppressed classes, a lively sense of justice and a keen love of what we mean by 'freedom' and 'liberty.In reviewing her life in the unpublished "'little biographical sketch that I promised'" for the A m e ric an Journal of Nursing in 1932, Lavinia Dock pinpointed the belief that guided her professional and public involvements and contributions for nearly 70 years.2 She was an activist in the social reforms of the progressive period, in the professionalization of nursing, and in the woman suffrage movement. Throughout her life, she was modest about her contributions to nursing and women, but the results were of lasting importance. Lavinia Dock was from a middle-class family who gave her a proper Victorian education in art, music, literature, and language during the years after the American Civil War. Counter to what was considered "proper" for young women of that day, she decided at the age of twenty-six to attend a nurse's training school. After graduation, she helped develop a visiting nurse service for a church mission in New York City and then becam e the first visiting nurse in 1 a Connecticut town. The visiting nurse practiced autonomously within the community by deciding the frequency of visits and when to make referrals. By 1896, influenced by her belief in freedom and justice, Dock came to work and live at the Henry Street Nurses' Settlement on the Lower East Side of New York City. The experiment at Henry Street was a response to the economic and social conditions of a developing industrial nation. The settlement came into being in the early months of the panic of 1893 to 1897. Lillian Wald, nurse and founder, at first was responding to the industrial conditions of poverty, overcrowding, and illness of the immigrant population. The nursing settlement relied on the skills of nurses, who developed public