Florence Nightingale was born in 1820 to a wealthy family living at the time in Florence, Italy. She was instrumental in the establishment of training for nurses, improvements in standards of hygiene, and compassionate care of patients in military and civilian hospitals and the workhouses of Britain. Her activities and service during the Crimean War, 1854-1856, elevated her to iconic status; the popular press began reporting extensively on her travels and her crusade for healthcare and sanitary reforms. She founded the Nightingale School of Nurses at St. Thomas' Hospital in London in 1860, the first of its kind. She also traveled to Greece and Egypt. During the Indian Mutiny, the American Civil War, and the Franco-Prussian War she consulted with military officials on hospitals and medical care. She wrote extensively on nursing, healthcare and sanitation, and healthcare statistics. Her life was memorialized through named institutions, biographies, photographic and print images, music, dramas, poetry, sculptures, and plaques. She died in London in 1910.
From the guide to the Howard Kelly Collection of Florence Nightingale Prints and Photographs, circa 1840-1949 and undated, (David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University)
