Oral Histories

-Curator’s Note-

Listening to these recordings is nothing short of a voyage into a history that has been forgotten for far too long. The story and importance of the ITSN cannot be understated. Attempts to make the history of this great institution more accessible have been few and far between. The comprehensive History of the Illinois Training School for Nurses was published in 1930 by the school’s Board of Directors. While it serves as a fantastic historiography of the program, it’s without a doubt missing that deep personal component that makes history so engaging for many of us. The interviews conducted by Dr. Church and her research assistant fortunately fill that gap. In the recordings below live treasures of nursing history. Short memoirs of a pioneering institution, snippets of individual experiences, and perhaps most important of all, stories and documentation of joy and fulfillment, some of the most important ingredients, all too often forgotten when telling the story of such an impactful place. As many of the interviews reveal, the completion of this project over four decades ago could not have come any later. To our understanding there were approximately 20 oral history interviews conducted in this project. We have the audio for 12 of them, along with the transcription for a 13th “lost interview.”
We invite you to listen closely, at your own pace. All the interviews and transcripts can be found below

These interviews were conducted in the 1980s, and recorded onto cassette tapes. As such, in many of these interviews, the audio quality has suffered with the passage of time, becoming nearly inaudible in several places. This portion of the exhibit was designed with ease of access in mind. Simply hit play to listen to the interview of your choice. To make the recordings more accessible, each one has a searchable transcript pdf in the description.

Oral History Interview w/ Mrs. Mayme Fyffe Watts, ITSN Class of 1916
Read the Transcript HERE
Oral History Interview w/ Mrs. Ruth E Knutson, ITSN Class of 1921
Read the Transcript HERE
Oral History Interview w/ Mrs. Belilah Bardo Weaver, ITSN Class of 1924
Read the Transcript HERE
Oral History Interview w/ Mrs. Olive Hastings Buelow, ITSN Class of 1924
Read the Transcript HERE
Oral History Interview w/ Mrs. Alice Vanter Tarrant, ITSN Class of 1924
Read the Transcript HERE
Oral History Interview w/ Mrs. Pauline Giltner Ackerman, ITSN Class of 1926
Read the Transcript HERE
Oral History Interview w/ Mrs. Ruth Keestar Gugin, ITSN Class of 1927
Read the Transcript HERE
Oral History Interview w/ Mrs. Stella Mickritz, ITSN Class of 1927
Read the Transcript HERE
Oral History Interview w/ Mrs. East, (full name unknown) ITSN Class of 1927.
Read the Transcript HERE
Oral History Interview w/ Mrs. Rose Thundale Dixon, ITSN Class of 1929.
Read the Transcript HERE
Oral History Interview w/ Mrs. May Mindrum Neander, ITSN Class of 1929
Read the Transcript HERE
Oral History Interview W/ Mrs. Winnie Anne Cox, (Educator and Grad Student for the ITSN)
Read the Transcript HERE

Finally, there exists a transcript in the collection that does not have a corresponding tape recording.
That transcript is of an interview with Mrs. Vern Maloney Mullen, ITSN Class of 1925.
The transcript for her interview can be found HERE.