Rochester General Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association (New York)

The Nursing Alumnae Association was founded in 1896, when the 77 graduates of the training school, which had banded together in 1891 as a central registry where they could be contacted by doctors, decided to form the Alumnae Assoc. "for the purpose of maintaining a directory and for their own interest." The membership was active in the profession and the community. The Assoc. members were instrumental in gaining passage of the Armstrong bill in 1903, which placed all nursing schools under the state (and examined and registered qualified graduates).

Members in 1906 founded the Nurses' Volunteer Benevolent Association to carry on free work among the poor, which was later replaced by the Visiting Nurse Service. The Assoc. remains active, including providing funds for nurses' training at the Hospital.