Preferred Citation

University of Virginia School of Nursing, Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry, Lorraine Bowers Albrecht Collection

Biographical / Historical

Mrs. Lorraine Bowers Albrecht grew up in West Virginia. She graduated from University of Virginia School of Nursing in 1951. She married a graduate of UVA, William Albrecht, in 1952. They have three children and five grandchildren. Albrecht taught for years at the Lansing Community College in Michigan. She retired from nursing in 1993. She donated the collection in September of 2007.

Scope and Contents

This collection focuses on medical illustration and the curriculum that Albrecht taught while she was an instructor at Lansing Community College. It contains many examples of anatomical drawings. Many of the drawings were signed by Myra Clark, a separate individual collection archived at the Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry. Some of the drawings are labeled; most of them are in black and white. If there was a notation about a particular drawing, that was archived and kept with the drawing. A few of the illustrations are in color. Four nursing manuals from Albrecht's curriculum at Lansing Community College are included in this collection, plus, a Health Assessment Handbook.

This collection contains clippings from various newspapers (c. 1974) regarding the building and dedication of the McLeod Building, nursing issues and nurses, or staff, that Albrecht was associated with. A plaque honoring Albrecht's commitment to nursing was given to her at her retirement in 1993 and this is also a part of the collection. Finally, the contents of a scrapbook containing clippings and publications about UVA School of nursing are also in this collection. Of special interest is a pamphlet for the dedication program at the Josephine McLeod Nursing Education Building in 1972. Box 3 was added after the first two boxes. There were artifacts pertaining to students nursing that added to the scope of this collection such as nursing cap, surgical cap and scissors. Box 3 also has two very specific student nursing presentations: "Sex Education" and "Spiritual Distress."

Albrecht has an oversized student scrapbook in Small Collections: Student Scrapbooks, added May 2008. The scrapbook chronicles her student years at UVA, School of Nursing and contains, photos, drawings, invitations, programs, newspaper clippings, graduation information and mementos. It has been dismantled but kept in original order.

Arrangement

Box 1 begins with Albrecht's retirement plaque in 1993 which includes a photograph of her with the Owosso Clinical Group; names are listed on the plaque. The next six folders contain anatomical drawings; if Myra Clark (a separate CHNI collection) has signed a drawing, her name will be on the folder. The illustrations are also organized by technique, most are pen and ink, and some are in color. The next three folders, 8, 9, and 10 are the contents of Albrecht's scrapbook which was kept in its original order and last folder in box one, is a Health Assessment Handbook from 1989. Box 2 contains the curriculum workbooks that Albrecht used when she taught at the Lansing Community College in Michigan. These include: Intro to Nursing - 121, Care of Adults I -123, Care of Adults II -124 and Care of Adults III- 222. Some of the pages in Nursing Care of Adults III are missing and all of the nursing manuals have worksheets and exercises added to them.

Box 3 of this collection was donated before the first two boxes. It contains artifacts such as a nursing cap, surgical cap, surgical brush and a collection of Albrecht's nametags and ID badges. It also has publications such as Albrecht's student nursing research papers and presentations that he gave as an instructor of nursing at the Lansing Community College. There are publications such as "The Advocate" from the Virginia Methodist and a student handbook from 1950. A few of the folders contain nursing diagrams such as the "Anatomical Plates" in folder 4 and the "Sex Education" transparencies in folder 6.

Oversized Box F4 contains anatomical drawings; most of these are black and white; although, a few are in color. There are also numerous newspaper clippings from the 1970s regarding issues at the School of Nursing.

Items in Oversized 05-01: Anatomical Drawings (7) prints.