Object number2011.29.4
Nurses Writing
Datec. 1910 - 1917
Artist
Jessie Tarbox Beals
(American, 1870-1942)
CultureCanadian, American
MediumGelatin silver print, mounted to board
DimensionsImage: 7 1/2 x 9 5/8 in. (19 x 24.5 cm)
Mount: 10 11/16 x 13 13/16 in. (27.2 x 35.1 cm)
Mount: 10 11/16 x 13 13/16 in. (27.2 x 35.1 cm)
Credit LineGift from the Michael and Joyce Axelrod collection (Joyce Jacobson, class of 1961)
On View
Not on viewPeriod20th c
Classification(s)
MarkingsOn reverse of mount, stamped lower right corner in ink: JESSIE TARBOX BEALS / 71 W 23d STREET / NEW YORK
Vassar Exhibitions
Label TextBorn in 1870, photographer Jessie Tarbox Beals is widely regarded as the first woman photojournalist in the United States. Beals is best known for her photographs of New York City’s transformation during the turn of the twentieth century. Nurses Writing is one of many pictures Beals took of the Henry Street Settlement, an organization founded by nurse and social activist Lillian Wald in 1893. Wald founded Henry Street to bring nursing care, education, and social services to under-resourced immigrant communities on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Nurses at Henry Street provided care to people who otherwise could not afford it. In this photograph, young women in matching uniforms pore over papers at a long table with a map of Manhattan hung behind them. They wear long dresses with high necks and tight waists, a far cry from the garb of healthcare workers today. This photograph was likely made as part of a commission from the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, which in 1910 began hiring professional photographers, including Beals, to expose the poor conditions in which many Americans lived. The organization used these photographs as evidence of the need for transformative legislation and policy.
DescriptionBlack and white image of a group of women in matching uniforms seated around a table writing. On the right side of the room a woman speaks into the phone and another flips through papers. Two other rooms are visible in the background with more women.
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