Rockwood / Kingston Psychiatric Hospital / Providence Continuing Care Centre Collection
Category
Nursing
Nursing Uniforms
Classification
Nursing
Nursing Uniforms
Accession Number
004014005
Description
Navy felted wool cape with red wool lining has a hidden one-button tab closure at chest level and a removable two-button tab neck closure with two hooks and eyes under neck tab. Construction is three panels with seam along shoulders to hem and mandarin style collar without insignia. Neck tab is mis…
Navy felted wool cape with red wool lining has a hidden one-button tab closure at chest level and a removable two-button tab neck closure with two hooks and eyes under neck tab. Construction is three panels with seam along shoulders to hem and mandarin style collar without insignia. Neck tab is missing one button.
Number Of Parts
1
Provenance
Linda Reason, Manager, Clinical Support Services, Mental Health Services site of the Providence Continuing Care Centre; artifacts from the Kingston Psychiatric Hospital Collection
On woven fabric label: "TAILORED BY // CORBETT-COWLEY // Limited // TORONTO, ONT. "; handwritten on inner lining: "M. E. NEIL." over faded handwriting: "J. MCMULLEN"
Permanent Location
Storage Room 0010
0010 Closet-A2
Length
88.0 cm
Width
259.0 cm
Unit Of Measure
centimeters
Dimension Notes
Length 88.0 cm x Width 259.0 cm
Condition Remarks
Neck tab is missing one button.
Copy Type
Original
Reference Types
Websites
Article
Reference Comments
Canadian Museum of History, "Symbol of a Profession: One Hundred Years of Nurses' Caps," https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/hist/infirm/inint01e.html
"For Service to Humanity: Nursing Education at Kingston General Hospital," Museum of Health Care. https://www.museumofhealthcare.ca/explore/exhibitions/forservicetohumanity.html
Mallory Warner, “Where is the missing piece of lining in this U.S. Navy nurse's cape?,” April 5, 2017. National Museum of American History, https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/us-navy-nurses-cape
Research Facts
The donor describes the artifact as a cape for a typical nurse's uniform that had previously been collected by staff of the Kingston Psychiatric Hospital / Providence Continuing Care Centre: their heritage collection was transferred to the Museum of Health Care at Kingston in March 2001.
Throughout the twentieth century, nurses' uniforms changed, in particular with the rising of hemlines. The nurse's uniform was generally white. Different levels of nursing education had different uniforms, in particular different caps, as graduate nurses had black bands on their caps to indicate their level of education.
Nurses’ capes were an important part of the nurse’s uniform, and became a symbol of nursing and care in their own right outside of the rest of the uniform. The Red Cross, like Kingston General Hospital, lined the inside of their nurses’ capes with red, and the symbol of the red lined cape was used in recruiting posters for nurses during World War I, making the nurse look heroic. Nurses serving with Florence Nightingale in the Crimean War also wore woollen cloaks, predecessors of the nursing cape. For many women, the cape was part of their identity as nurses.