CITY OF NEW YORK HARLEM HOSPITAL H.H.S.N. 1959 [cover title]

[New Yor, 1959. 64pp. Quarto. Red textured cloth over padded boards, front cover decoratively stamped in gilt. Minor edge wear. Occasional ink notations by original owner, else internally clean. Very good. Yearbook commemorating the graduation year for the Harlem Hospital School of Nursing's Class of 1959. This copy was owned by graduating nursing student Joan A. Ryan, with her name stamped in gilt on the front cover. The initials in the cover title stand for Harlem Hospital School of Nursing. The annual is profusely illustrated with photographs and photo-collages of the nurses- in-training, including separate group shots of classes, instructors, supervisors, the yearbook committee, the head nurses, the Glee Club, and more. The main section of individual senior class photographs is arranged in alphabetical order. There are also sections commensurate with yearbooks, such as remembrances, sorority photos, the Bible Club, cartoons drawn by the students, prophecies of future success for each student, and more. The last section, about sixteen pages, is devoted to well-wishes from friends and local advertisements, providing information on businesses for the area around Harlem Hospital during this time

Some of the earlier sections of the yearbook are annotated in blue ink by the original owner, Joan Ryan, identifying staff members and fellow students. In the section of graduation photographs, she comments on the marital and parental status of her fellow graduates. For instance, under Ida M. Jackman's name Ryan writes: "Engaged Married 1 Child." She evidently kept track of her fellow graduates over the course of time. She does not write anything below her own picture, which has a printed quote from Shakespeare beneath it.

A wonderful memento of the medical education of African-American women in Harlem in the early years of the Civil Rights movement, owned and annotated by one of the graduates. (Inventory #: WRCAM55457)