Nurses' House-for Nurses

Editor's note: From its first issue in 1900 through to the present day, AJN has unparalleled archives detailing nurses' work and lives over more than a century. These articles not only chronicle nursing's growth as a profession within the context of the events of the day, but also reveal prevailing societal attitudes about women, health care, and human rights. Today's nursing school curricula rarely include nursing's history, but it's a history worth knowing. To this end, From the AJN Archives highlights articles selected to fit today's topics and times. This month's article, from January 1939, describes Nurses' House in Long Island, New York, where nurses could stay for "fun or rest, or just plain comfort and content." The home was a legacy of Emily H. Bourne, who was known primarily for her support of the blind and for building what is now the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts. Bourne (who was not a nurse) left money in her will for the purchase of a mansion where nurses could come to rest and relax between cases. The home was sold in 1959 to create a fund for nurses in need. Today, Nurses' House is a nonprofit, nurse-managed, national service organization that provides short-term financial assistance to nurses in all 50 states. For more on nurses' well-being-especially relevant amid a global pandemic-see this month's original research article, "Well-Being and Resilience Among Health Care Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study."-Betsy Todd, MPH, RN.