Preferred Citation

University of Virginia School of Nursing, Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry, Evelyn Crary Bacon Papers

Biographical / Historical

Information was compiled from correspondence and notes in the collection and from Barbara Brodie's book, Mr. Jefferson's Nurses: University of Virginia School of Nursing 1901-2001, published by UVA in 2000.

Evelyn Crary Bacon was born in Iowa in 1916 and earned baccalaureate and master's degrees from the University of Iowa School of Nursing in 1937 and 1940. From 1942 to 1945 she served in the Army Nurse Corps in the USA and in England, then taught at UCLA and the University of Iowa before enrolling in a doctoral program at the University of Chicago in 1949. Before completing her degree she married Franklin Bacon and moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, where she taught extension courses throughout the state for UVA's Cabaniss School of Nursing Education. She served as acting chair of the university's Department of Nursing Education from 1954 to 1956, then joined the faculty of the Medical College of Virginia School of Nursing in 1960. From 1965 to 1968 Bacon headed the Richmond Professional Institute and during the 1970s and 80s she taught at a number of institutions and was in demand as a consultant. Throughout her career in the state she was a recognized leader in Virginia nursing education, known for her work with the Virginia State Board of Nursing (VSBN), the Virginia Nurses Association (VNA), the Virginia League for Nursing (VLN), and the Southern Regional Education Board. Bacon was also active in the National League for Nursing (NLN). In 1985 she retired from the faculty of the J.S. Reynolds Community College in Richmond.

Scope and Contents

This is not a comprehensive collection of Bacon's papers, but a fragmented assortment representing various phases of her personal and professional life between 1942 and 1985. Most of the collection comprises reprints, course outlines, references, and guides, with some correspondence and minutes from meetings of the VSBN and the VNA. Her career from 1955 to 1991 is highlighted in documents relating to the Richmond Professional Institute, the Medical College of Virginia, state boards, nurses associations, and junior colleges, as well as the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses Association. The material is most notable for its World War II correspondence, and for a interview of Bacon discussing her war experiences on cassette tape. A collection of books and pamphlets, listed below, was separated from the manuscript materials and has been incorporated into the holdings of the Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry and the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library Historical Collections, if not already in their collections.

Arrangement

Because the collection presents no clearly defined structure, it has been arranged into one roughly chronological series from 1942 through 1991. Related topical materials have been combined.