The Ethel J. Odegard Papers consist of correspondence, clippings, reports and writings, and memorabilia primarily documenting her career as a nursing educator. The focus of the papers is on the teaching she did from 1919 to 1930 and on her study of nursing education in Egypt during the early 1950s. Although none of her early appointments is extensively documented, her positions at Mary Lanning and Milwaukee Central School of Nursing are the most fully covered. There is virtually no material on her career with the Nurses Examining Board.
The papers are organized as biographical material, correspondence, subject files, writings and reports, and miscellany.
The biographical material consists of clippings documenting various episodes in her career and a Merrill High School yearbook. The correspondence consists of a general chronological file, primarily documenting the period from 1920 to 1932. This file concerns various professional involvements and activities and her search for a suitable position after resigning from Milwaukee Central. Also included are a number of segregated files from particular groups of friends and colleagues and a file of humorous letters related to the registration of nurses.
Miss Odegard's writings and reports primarily date from the 1920s and consist of both typed reports and published articles. The SHSW Library holds a copy of her genealogical work, A Norwegian Family Transplanted, which was published in 1974.
The subject files consist of correspondence, reports, clippings, and other printed matter concerning various aspects of her career. This section is arranged alphabetically by keyword. In addition to files on her positions at Mary Lanning and Milwaukee Central, there is correspondence with Adda Eldredge, director of the Wisconsin Bureau of Nursing Education and president of the American Nurses Association, and information concerning her Fulbright in Egypt and her gift of two paintings to Merrill High School.
The miscellany includes several unidentified reports (none of which appear to have been written by Miss Odegard) and selected pages from scrapbooks she collected on friends and professional associates with whom she was acquainted. The volume of these clippings has been extensively weeded, although a listing of complete contents has been retained. Many of the retained clippings contain further comments and annotations made by Miss Odegard.
