Biographical / Historical

Information provided by NAPNAP Web site and organizational histories.

The National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners was founded in 1973 as a non-profit organization devoted to improving child health care and representing the interests of pediatric nurse practitioners/associates. In May of that year PNPs from around the country met in Columbus, Ohio to discuss affiliation with an existing nursing or medical profession-al group. They concluded that PNPs would best be served by their own specialty nursing or-ganization, and scheduled a national meeting in October. At that meeting, with the unani-mous vote of 400 PNPs, NAPNAP was born.

During the first few years NAPNAP focused on defining standards for PNP education and practice, on developing a certification process for PNPs, and on refining its organizational structure and goals. Early on, the organization also began to monitor health legislation and to actively marshal support among its constituents for specific legislative platforms. As NAPNAP matured, its activities expanded to include advising state boards of nursing, pro-ducing materials to educate consumers on childcare, and providing opportunities and fund-ing for continuing education of PNPs. In 2002 NAPNAP serves over 6,500 members -- over 60% of PNPs nationally -- in 50 local chapters throughout the United States.

Scope and Contents

The NAPNAP Collection consists primarily of administrative documents generated by the organization's executive director and staff and by its officers, committees, and task forces. These include correspondence, reports, meeting minutes, bylaws, applications for grants and awards, and conference materials. A large part of the collection is comprised of reports on health-related legislative issues generated by Capitol Associates, Inc., a Washington, D.C. lobbying firm. Smaller parts of the collection consist of: publications, including news-letters, conference programs, brochures, and position statements; photographs, mostly of conference activities; audiotapes of conference presentations; and videotapes of interviews with former officers and of educational and public service statements. The 1970s and 1980s are represented by scattered correspondence, reports, and publications. The full range of administrative documents begins in 1989.

Arrangement

The collection has been arranged into six series, reflecting the administrative structure and activities of the organization:

Series 1: Administrative Office Documents

Subseries: Documents relating to the history of NAPNAP Subseries: Annual reports, by-laws

Subseries: Meeting minutes

Subseries: Correspondence, reports, applications and related documents

Series 2: Publications and manuals

Series 3: Chapters documents

Series 4: Photographs

Series 5: Audiotapes of conference programs

Series 6: Videotapes of interviews with former NAPNAP officers, public service and educational videos (Note that videotapes have been separated from the main collection and are housed at the Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry)