It is now 70 years since Nursing Studies was established at The University of Edinburgh in 1956. As time goes on, we are fast losing access to firsthand accounts of those who were there in the early years. The living memory is fast disappearing.
Among those we have lost recently are two who went on to make internationally recognised contributions to nursing in the course of their careers: Fadwa Affara who joined the second cohort of the undergraduate nursing programme in 1961 and Winifred Logan, one of the early members of the staff. Both had talked at past decennial anniversary celebrations of their memories of Nursing Studies during its first decade.
From living memory to written record
As we lose the living memory of the history of Nursing Studies, we become reliant on what has been memorialised in writing. Published journal articles have reported developments and achievements over the years. And we have two significant books. One is the biography of Elsie Stephenson, the founding Director, aptly titled ‘Fear Not to Sow’, published in 1990, written by Sheila Allan, an early undergraduate nursing student. The other is a chronological history – ‘A Leap in the Dark’ – compiled by Rosemary Weir, a Lecturer in Nursing Studies, published in 1996, the 40th anniversary year.
‘A Leap in the Dark’ provides a factual account of the first four decades of Nursing Studies. It tells us that, in the first decade, the Nurse Teaching Unit – as initially it was called – began to address its dual remit of teaching and research. The original Nurse Tutors Course, previously run by the Royal College of Nursing in Scotland, was superseded by Advanced Education and Administration Certificate/Diploma courses. And a WHO-funded International School of Advanced Nursing Studies provided courses for senior nurses from overseas. In 1960 the undergraduate nursing programme began: the first in the UK to integrate preparation for registration as a nurse with a university degree. In 1963, Nursing Studies moved into the new Faculty of Social Sciences with full departmental status and with research expanding.
The leadership and legacy of Elsie Stephenson
All who played a part in this first decade share credit for remarkable and historic achievements. As always, the key is strong leadership; and, from Elsie Stephenson the first Director, there was energetic and inspiring leadership. Her premature death at the age of 51 in 1967 brought great sadness. But her legacy lives on. In addition to Sheila Allan’s biography, there is a large archive of material that Elsie Stephenson left behind in the form of notes, records, documents, reports, talks and lectures, books, photographs and mementos. The mammoth task of organising and listing this collection was undertaken by Phyllis Runciman in 1981 who, as an undergraduate student (1964 – 69), had the privilege of knowing Elsie Stephenson.
The ‘Elsie Stephenson Collection’ is now in the safekeeping of the Lothian Health Services Archive (LHSA). LHSA is managed separately from, but co-located with, the University Archives on the 6th floor of the Main Library in George Square. The university’s archives contain routine documents such as old curricula and exam papers, but also rare and precious records that hold the history of this ancient university. Materials are arranged into ‘collections’: subject areas, notable individuals, governance records and so on. Once organised and catalogued, a Collection becomes accessible to staff, students and the public for perusal and study purposes.
The next Elsie Stephenson Memorial Lecture will be delivered on 19th May 2026 by Professor Lyn Calman, an alumnus of Nursing Studies and current Co-Director of the Centre for Psychosocial Research in Cancer at the University of Southampton. You can find out more information about the event on the School of Health in Social Science website.
Building the Nursing Studies archive
Nursing Studies has a sizeable stash of material currently stored in the Archives in 27 big cardboard boxes, but not yet catalogued. In 2016, before their transfer for storage, Veronica Adamson (PhD 2015) had done valiant work in checking the contents and labelling the boxes, then 21. Inspired by these efforts to preserve Nursing Studies’ history, Pam Smith has since organised the transfer of 6 more boxes, and last year enlisted the help of Alison Tierney to work with her on the task of listing each of the items in these 27 boxes. We are now nearly at the end of this laborious task! The next stages of curating the materials and creating a catalogued Collection have to be done by professional archivists. Grant Buttars, Deputy University Archivist, who has been supervising our work, will set that in motion and once completed, there will be a Nursing Studies Collection.
Why have the two of us given time to this work? Because we both have a strong allegiance to Nursing Studies. Because we both have personal interest in the history of university-based education and research for nursing, both having gone into nursing via a degree programme in the same year – 1966: Alison to Edinburgh University, Pam to the University of Manchester. And because we understand the value of archives. Archives are crucial for the long-term preservation of primary source records, not only written documents, but also photographs and other artefacts and, nowadays, also in digital form. An archive holds the collective memory of an organisation once the living memory of individuals has disappeared. With that beginning to happen, it is timely that an archive is now being formally established that will safeguard for posterity the story – the unique history – of Nursing Studies.
Contributing to the archive
We warmly invite Nursing Studies alumni to contribute to this growing collection. Any materials—such as documents, photographs, or other relevant items—would be greatly valued. Please contact Pam or Alison by email if you would like to donate.
Pam Smith MBE FRCN, Professor Emerita in Nursing Studies. Formerly Head of Nursing Studies (2010 – 2013). UG Nursing student, University of Manchester 1966-70. PhD Nursing Studies, King’s College, University of London (1988).
Email: pam.smith@ed.ac.uk
Alison J Tierney CBE FRCN, Student in Nursing Studies at The University of Edinburgh (UG 1966-1971, PhD 1976), then Lecturer, SL, Director of Nursing Research Unit, Reader, Professor of Nursing Research (1997), Head of the Department of Nursing Studies (1998-2002).
Email: alisonjtierney@gmail.com
