Navy woollen cape with red wool lining; "BGH" embroidered on right collar; construction: one semicircular piece with a pair of shoulder darts for shaping; one hook and eye at neck; exterior two-button removable tab closure at chest level; missing fabric tab; inside left facing is a coin pocket with…
Navy woollen cape with red wool lining; "BGH" embroidered on right collar; construction: one semicircular piece with a pair of shoulder darts for shaping; one hook and eye at neck; exterior two-button removable tab closure at chest level; missing fabric tab; inside left facing is a coin pocket with machine-embroidered initials "BAC"; a metal fastener at the neck and a metal chain at the back for hanging.
Number Of Parts
1
Provenance
Donated by Pat Daniels, the nephew of the original owner, Queenie Cooke, Kingston General Hospital School of Nursing graduate Class of 1927.
Queenie Cooke began working at the Belleville General Hospital after she graduated.
Material
fabric: red; blue; black; yellow
plastic: black
metal: dark grey
Inscriptions
The letters "BGH" are embroidered at the left collar; the letters "BAC" are embroidered below the inside pocket; a woven manufacturer's label reads, "Lac-Mac // London // Canada"
Permanent Location
Storage Room 0010
0010 Closet
Length
94.5 cm
Width
124.0 cm
Depth
2.5 cm
Unit Of Measure
centimeters
Dimension Notes
Length: 94.5 cm. x Width: 124.0 cm. x Depth: 2.5 cm.
Condition Remarks
The cape is reasonably clean and complete; there is no excessive wear visible; the inner lining has four very small holes (likely made by moths); no other damage is visible inside or outside; #2: lining has six small moth holes on right panel.
Copy Type
Original
Reference Types
Website
Article
Reference Comments
Brockville General Hospital, "History -- School of Nursing", https://www.brockvillegeneralhospital.ca/en/who-we-are/history.aspx
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 Brockville General Hospital School of Nursing began on Ormond Street in Brockville, Ontario in 1889 and the first nurse graduated in 1893. The school produced 1,189 graduates before nursing programs became part of community college curriculums in 1974.
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.