Two pieces of black velvet ribbon (a-b) with rough cut ends stored with straight pins on a ball of white cotton crochet thread (c) with a cardboard centre.
Two pieces of black velvet ribbon (a-b) with rough cut ends stored with straight pins on a ball of white cotton crochet thread (c) with a cardboard centre.
Number Of Parts
3
Part Names
a - ribbon - Size: Length 39.7 cm x Width 1.5 cm
b - ribbon - Size: Length 41.1 cm x Width 1.5 cm
c - spool - Size: Length 4.4 cm x Diameter 5.5 cm
Provenance
Owned by Gladys (Millar) Rockel; donated to the museum by her son Stephen Rockel.
Dates
1939
1945
circa 1939-1945
Date Remarks
Donor's remarks
Material
fabric: black; white
cardboard: tan
Permanent Location
Storage Room 0010
0010-C5-3
Temporary Location
On Display: “For Service to Humanity”, Nursing Gallery: Restored Room 1016, Museum of Health Care, 13 Nov 2008.
Copy Type
Original
Reference Types
Document
Websites
Reference Comments
Remarks in donor file
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
Research Facts
Gladys (Millar) Rockel graduated from Kitchener Waterloo Nursing College, Class of 1939; nursing positions in Pontiac, Michigan (1940), Grand Rapids, Michigan (1941), and Toronto, Ont. (1942); worked in private practice with her husband, Dr. Rockel; upon graduation, nurses' caps had a length of black velvet ribbon pinned to the top edge; removable for laundering.
Throughout the twentieth century, nurses' uniforms changed, in particular with the rising of hemlines. The nurse's uniform was generally white, and Kingston General Hospital uniforms were once known for "turkey red" hemlines. 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' caps in Canada changed and evolved over the years, with caps resembling a nun's coif used by military Nursing Sisters and as a reminder of Roman Catholic nursing tradition. Older nurses' caps were styled similarly to caps that female domestic servants wore, and were made to cover the head and keep hair neat. These evolved into highly starched symbolic nurses' caps which perched on the top or near the back of the head. Nurses' caps were white, and usually cut from a flat pattern that could be folded and unfolded for starching and cleaning. The nurse's cap began to disappear in the 1970s as nursing education moved from hospitals to colleges and nurses wanted to be identified more closely with doctors and other medical professionals who wore no uniform.