Summary Information
Ethel J. Odegard Papers
1919-1972
Mss 356
0.8 c.f. (2 archives boxes)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of Ethel J. Odegard, a nursing instructor who held teaching positions in Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Nebraska, and Minnesota (1919-1944), before becoming executive director of the Nurses' Examining Board of the District of Columbia (1944-1957). Included are clippings concerning her own career and the lives of various friends and professional associates; and correspondence and reports related to teaching during the 1920's at Madison General Hospital School of Nursing, Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, and Milwaukee Central School of Nursing; to her friendship with Adda Eldredge, director of the Wisconsin Bureau of Nursing Education; and to a Fulbright grant she received in 1952 to study nursing education in Egypt. Also included are files of articles and miscellaneous reports, and information concerning her loyalty to Merrill High School.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00356 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Nursing educator Ethel J. Odegard was born on December 16, 1891 in Merrill, Wisconsin. After graduating from the local schools in 1910 she completed her nurse's training at Dr. Ravn's Hospital School of Nursing in Merrill in 1912. She went on to earn a BA degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1919 and an MA in nursing education from Columbia University in 1929.
Between 1919 and her retirement in 1956, Miss Odegard held a number of teaching and administrative positions in the field of nursing education. Most notable of these positions were appointments as instructor and superintendent of nurses at Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital School of Nurses, Hastings, Nebraska (1919-1921); educational director and assistant superintendent of nurses at Madison General Hospital School of Nursing (1921-1924); director of Central Milwaukee School of Nursing (1924-1930); and nursing instructor at the College of Saint Teresa, Winona, Minnesota (1937-1942). During this time she taught anatomy, physiology, microbiology, bacteriology, and other sciences as they related to nursing, and she also wrote a number of articles on the problems and progress of nursing education. Throughout her career she strove to further professionalism within the field.
From 1944 until her retirement she was executive secretary of the Nurses Examining Board of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. As a result of a Fulbright grant in 1952, Miss Odegard spent a year's leave in Egypt as an advisor to the school of nursing at the University of Alexandra.
Scope and Content Note
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.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Ethel J. Odegard, Whitewater, Wisconsin, 1972-1975. Accession Number: M72-469, M73-489, M75-472
Processed by Susan Sharlin (Intern) and Joanne Hohler, 1975.
Contents List
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Biographical Material
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General Correspondence
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Box
1
Folder
2-5
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1920-1969
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Box
1
Folder
7
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Letters from student and graduate nurses, 1936-1967
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Box
1
Folder
8
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Correspondence re anecdotes on registration, 1950
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Box
1
Folder
9
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Professional colleagues, 1944-1967
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Box
1
Folder
10
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Friends and teachers, 1974-1971
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Articles and Writings, 1920-1935, undated
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Subject Files
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Box
1
Folder
11
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Columbia University, 1923-1928
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Box
1
Folder
12
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Eldredge, Adda (Wisconsin Bureau of Nursing Education), 1920-1934
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Box
2
Folder
1
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Egypt, Fulbright study in, 1952-1953
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Box
2
Folder
2
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Madison General Hospital, 1921-1922, undated
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Box
2
Folder
3
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Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, 1919-1921
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Merrill High School
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Box
2
Folder
4
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Paintings presented in honor of Mrs. O.P. Odegard, 1947-1950
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Box
2
Folder
5
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Reunion, 1960
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Box
2
Folder
6
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Milwaukee Central School of Nursing, 1924-1930
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Box
2
Folder
7
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Minneapolis Central School of Nursing, 1927-1932, undated
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Box
2
Folder
8
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Nebraska State Nurses Association, 1920
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Box
2
Folder
9
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Saint Teresa, College of (Winona, Minn.), 1937-1966
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Box
2
Folder
10
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Wisconsin Legislative Interim Committee on Education, 1929-1930
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Miscellany
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Box
2
Folder
11
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Miscellaneous reports, 1929, undated
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Box
2
Folder
12
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Biographical clippings on friends and associates, undated
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