David Green, Director of the Nightingale Museum, explains why he and his colleagues are going the extra mile to celebrate 200 years since the birth of Britain’s most famous nurse
You’re probably aware by now that 2020 is the bicentenary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. On 12 May, it will be 200 years since the mother of modern nursing was born in Florence, whilst her parents were travelling through Europe. With this milestone in mind, we at the Florence Nightingale Museum have been working hard for the past two years, planning an exciting range of events to celebrate and share Nightingale’s inspiring story with wider audiences. It’s been a fantastic opportunity for us to work with nursing, statistical and heritage organisations throughout the world, including the RCN, meeting many new friends along the way!
We’ve got lots to interest current and former nursing staff. Our temporary exhibition, Florence Nightingale in 200 Objects, People and Places, will open to the public on Sunday 8 March 2020 – International Women’s Day. We felt this was a fitting opportunity to highlight Nightingale as a genuine pioneer, who was an iconic woman in her own lifetime and has truly inspired generations of women (and men) ever since.
We asked people to nominate objects and modern-day nurses, both from the UK and abroad, to highlight that her spirit lives on. Some were even selected by RCN student members.
The immersive exhibition will begin in Nightingale’s bedroom in South Street London, and contains objects from our own collection stores, as well as exhibits from The RCN Archives, the National Army Museum, the World Museum Liverpool, and the collections of individuals.
Visitors will have the chance to hear a voice recording made by Nightingale in 1890. It provides a reflection point before the visitor progresses on to explore Nightingale’s influence upon the world – from her contributions to statistical research and hygiene, to her compassion in being one of the first nursing leaders to insist that wives of soldiers killed in battle should be notified.
The museum is also encouraging young visitors and the young-at-heart to visit our new family corner, where they can explore nursing careers via the stories of the team at St Thomas’s. There’s a chance to dress up and follow a trail around the museum to see some of our most popular exhibits: Nightingale’s beloved owl Athena and the famous lamp from Scutari Hospital. While the lamp is a favourite, many are still surprised when they see what it looks like.
You can also find out about the challenges Nightingale had to overcome to become a nurse. She wanted to make nursing a profession where women earned a proper wage, were respected and had recognised skills. She’s often dismissed too easily because of her privileged background, but to me this is what makes her work so amazing, because she could quite easily have been sitting in luxury.
There’s a great bit in one of her letters where she says she’d combed her hair for the first time, because she was used to having a maid do it, yet to go from that to rat-infested squalor, and with the sea-sickness she suffered on the way to Scutari, Crimea – that takes guts.
She wanted to make nursing a profession where women earned a proper wage and had recognised skills
A pop-up version of the exhibition will also be touring hospitals, but if you can’t make it, a visit to our website is the next best thing. Here, you will also find details of our wider events programme. At the museum this includes performances by our ever-popular Miss Nightingale character, a range of talks including a book-signing with Nightingale expert Professor Lynn McDonald and discussion about Nightingale’s inspiring qualities with Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu. Then on Florence’s birthday, there’s the opportunity to come and share birthday cake.
The celebrations continue beyond the museum, with three major events and a series of walking tours of Nightingale’s London. We are proud to have supported the Burdett Trust for Nursing to create a Nightingale-themed show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May 2020. The design of the restorative space draws inspiration directly from our collections.
We’re also involved with a special Nightingale Evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral on 27 October, and the museum team will attend the Lord Mayor’s Show on 8 November with a giant lamp and 38 nurses, representing those who accompanied Nightingale to Scutari.
With many people asking about bicentenary keepsakes, we’ve developed a range of exclusive 2020 merchandise. We’re also proud to see Mattel’s new Nightingale Barbie, which they developed with our support and advice for their Inspiring Women series. These will be collectables and it says much of Nightingale’s influence that she has been selected to sit within this group.
It is a huge honour for us to be working on such celebratory projects and if you would like to get involved, you can! We’re launching a new volunteering programme in 2020 and are always looking for project partners.
Find out more
To learn more about volunteering, call 0207 188 4400 or email davidg@florence-nightingale.co.uk
Explore the exhibition and see what events are taking place at the Florence Nightingale Museum.
Object lesson
The RCN Library and Archive are home to many fascinating Nightingale-related items.
Last October, the History of Nursing Forum joined the RCN Scotland Student and Newly Qualified Nurse conference in Dundee to select five of these objects for the Florence Nightingale Museum’s new exhibition. Before the conference, the RCN Library and Archive team narrowed down the options to 10 iconic items, including letters, books, statues and medals. On the day, our librarian Emma Taylor presented the case for each object.
Nursing students discussed their merits, before voting for the final five. The winners reflect some of Nightingale’s key achievements and qualities – there’s her personal copy of Notes on Nursing, showing the emphasis she placed on patient care, her iconic Crimean lamp, and some of the many letters she traded with friends, collaborators and other nurses. They also show her importance to the RCN.
The International Florence Nightingale medal, an award created by the Red Cross two years after her death, was awarded to RCN founder Sarah Swift in 1929 for her contribution to international nursing. The final object selected is a miniature bronze replica of AG Walker’s The Lady With the Lamp statue found at London’s Waterloo Place Crimea Memorial. The RCN authorised these to be ‘made available at a reasonable cost to the nursing profession’ and a niche was created in the RCN Library, London, where the 18-inch-high statue was displayed during the 20th century.
