Adda Eldredge
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Adda Eldredge | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 27, 1864 Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Died | October 24, 1955 (aged 90) Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, U.S. |
Resting place | Rienzi Cemetery, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin |
| Education | St. Luke's Hospital Training School for Nurses Teachers College, Columbia University |
| Occupations | Nurse, nursing educator, administrator |
| Years active | 1899–c. 1940 |
| Known for | Nursing licensure legislation; Illinois Registered Nurse Certificate No. 1 (1907) |
| Title | President of the American Nurses Association (1922–1926) Director of the Wisconsin Bureau of Nursing Education (1921–1934) |
| Parent(s) | Charles A. Eldredge Maria Anna Bishop Eldredge |
| Awards | Walter Burns Saunders Medal (1935) American Nurses Association Hall of Fame (1986) |
Adda Eldredge (November 27, 1864 – October 24, 1955) was an American nurse, educator, and public health administrator who played a central role in early twentieth-century state nursing registration and educational reform. After helping secure passage of the 1907 Illinois Nurse Practice Act, she was issued the state's first nursing license (Registration Certificate No. 1). She subsequently served as director of the Wisconsin Bureau of Nursing Education from 1921 to 1934 and as president of the American Nurses Association (ANA) from 1922 to 1926.
In recognition of her work in nursing legislation and accreditation, Eldredge received the Walter Burns Saunders Medal in 1935 and was posthumously inducted into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame in 1986.
Early life and education
Eldredge was born on November 27, 1864, in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, the youngest of five children of Charles Augustus Eldredge and Maria Anna (Bishop) Eldredge. Her father was an attorney and Democratic politician who represented Wisconsin in the United States House of Representatives from 1863 to 1875.
Eldredge moved to Chicago to study nursing at St. Luke's Hospital Training School for Nurses, earning her diploma in 1899. Later in her career, between 1915 and 1917, she completed advanced coursework in public health nursing at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City.
Career
Illinois nursing registration and St. Luke's Hospital
Following her graduation from St. Luke's in 1899, Eldredge worked as a private duty nurse in Chicago. That same year, the Illinois State Nurses Association enlisted her to campaign for state legislation establishing formal registration and educational standards for nurses. She returned to St. Luke's Hospital Training School as an instructor from 1907 to 1914.
When the Illinois General Assembly enacted the state's Nurse Practice Act in 1907, Eldredge received Registration Certificate No. 1 in recognition of her legislative advocacy. She later served as president of the Illinois State Nurses Association.
National leadership and World War I
Eldredge's legislative work in Illinois brought her into national nursing administration. She served as first vice president of the American Nurses Association from 1913 to 1915. After completing her studies at Teachers College, she worked for one year with the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.
From 1917 to 1920, Eldredge served as interstate secretary for the American Nurses Association, the National League of Nursing Education, and the American Journal of Nursing, traveling across the United States to advise state nursing associations on organizational structure and licensing laws. During World War I, she was loaned to the Committee on Nursing of the Council of National Defense to help organize the student nurse reserve program, and she also served with the New York State Board of Nurse Examiners.
Wisconsin Bureau of Nursing Education and ANA presidency
In 1921, Eldredge returned to Wisconsin after being appointed director of the state's Bureau of Nursing Education. During her thirteen-year tenure, she instituted regular inspections and accreditation standards for Wisconsin nursing schools, promoted the hiring of formally trained faculty, established clinical affiliation programs, and advocated for shorter work shifts and longer vacations for nursing students. Around this period, she also contributed to the Committee for the Study of Nursing Education's 1923 survey of nursing education and private duty nursing in the United States, commonly known as the Goldmark Report.
While directing the bureau in Wisconsin, Eldredge was elected president of the American Nurses Association in 1922, succeeding Clara Dutton Noyes. She served two terms until 1926, when she was succeeded by S. Lillian Clayton. Alongside her domestic responsibilities, she served on the board of directors of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and represented the ANA as an official delegate at four ICN international congresses.
Later career
In 1934, following state budget reductions in Wisconsin during the Great Depression, Eldredge resigned from the Bureau of Nursing Education. She returned to Chicago to serve as director of the Nurse Placement Service. During the mid-1930s, she also taught coursework on nursing legislation at the University of Chicago and nursing jurisprudence at the University of Minnesota.
Death and legacy
Eldredge died on October 24, 1955, in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, at the age of 90, and was interred at Rienzi Cemetery in Fond du Lac.
Eldredge was a member of the nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau. In 1935, she was awarded the Walter Burns Saunders Medal for Distinguished Service in the Cause of Nursing. The Wisconsin Nurses Association established a scholarship fund in her name to support continuing education for registered nurses. In 1986, she was inducted into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame. Archival correspondence from her tenure at the Wisconsin Bureau of Nursing Education is preserved in the nursing history collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Notes
- ↑ While her gravestone and biographical dictionary entries record her birth date as November 27, 1864, her American Nurses Association Hall of Fame profile lists her birth year as 1865.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Cooper, Signe S. (1988). "Adda Eldredge". In Bullough, Vern L.; Church, Olga Maranjian; Stein, Alice P. (eds.). American Nursing: A Biographical Dictionary. Vol. 1. New York: Garland Publishing – via American Association for the History of Nursing.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Adda Eldredge (1865–1955) – 1986 Inductee". American Nurses Association Hall of Fame. American Nurses Association.
- 1 2 3 "Past Presidents of the American Nurses Association". American Nurses Association.
- 1 2 "Ethel J. Odegard Papers, 1919–1972 (Wis Mss 356)". Archival Resources in Wisconsin: Descriptive Finding Aids. University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.