Message from the President

Greetings!

As the president of the Western Conservancy of Nursing History, it is my pleasure to report the great strides we made with this fledgling organization in 2007.

First, we officially became a non-profit organization, recognized by both the state and federal governments, which is an advent in itself. This came about with the help of several employees of Azusa Pacific University.

Second, the School of Nursing actively assisted us as we looked for a small space at APU for the storage of our current collections, and provided us much encouragement to move forward with our endeavors. We specifically owe our gratitude for this assistance to Dean Aja Lesh, who has gone out of her way to help us.

Third, we acquired the historical nursing collections from the former California Hospital School of Nursing, the Huntington Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, and some materials from the Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital and the Methodist Hospital Schools of Nursing. In addition, we began a collection of historical and old nursing textbooks and memorabilia.

And fourth, we received donations from some generous contributors to get us started, including some financial help from Sigma Theta Tau International—Iota Sigma, with whom we are partnering. We also greatly appreciate a significant grant of $10,000 from Kaiser Permanente to help us along.

Lastly, we are glad to have this website now up and running so that we can better communicate with our constituents. Again, we are very grateful for the assistance from APU’s personnel for this endeavor.

We would be grateful to receive any nursing memorabilia you wish to donate or any funding assistance. Please contact us if you would like to help or should you have any questions.

Cordially,

Phyllis Esslinger
President of Western Conservancy of Nursing History