Conditions Governing Use

There are no restrictions.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Existence and Location of Copies

Print and electronic copies of a scanned form of the scrapbook have been added to collection control folders.

Preferred Citation

Etuy Elizabeth Hall papers, 1927-1986, Accession 2018.06.014, Special Collections and Archives, Health Sciences Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

Acquisition information

Donor unknown, collection was mailed to the Health Sciences Library.

Biographical / Historical

Etuy Elizabeth Hall was a white nurse who was born in Northumberland County, Virginia, around 1901. In 1917, Hall moved to Baltimore, Maryland and lived there until she was diagnosed with tuberculosis at age 25. On August 17, 1926, she was admitted to Blue Ridge Sanatorium, an all-white facility for the treatment of tuberculosis located in Charlottesville, Virginia. After spending a year there, she was found to not have active tuberculosis, and pursued nursing as a result of her experience.

Hall attended Blue Ridge Sanatorium School of Nursing and graduated as a registered nurse from the Johnston-Willis Hospital School of Nursing in 1929. After graduation, Hall worked at Piedmont Sanatorium, a rest home for tubercular African Americans in Burkeville, Virginia. For 35 years, Hall served as the Director of the School of Nursing at Piedmont Sanatorium, which was the first school to offer a two-year tuberculosis nursing program for Black women in the United States.

Upon retirement in 1971, Hall moved to Richmond, Virginia. She resided in Richmond until her death in 1986.

Content Description

The Etuy Elizabeth Hall papers primarily consists of correspondence and photographs created between 1927 and 1986. The correspondence portion of the collection includes letters and cards written to Hall while she was a student at Blue Ridge Sanatorium and Johnston-Willis Hospital School of Nursing, and during her time as director of the nursing school at Piedmont Sanatorium. These letters and cards are primarily from her mother, friends, and colleagues. Topically, the letters discuss coursework and training, the death of Hall's father, gardening, and other matters. The collection does not include copies of Hall's responses.

Photographs in the collection consist of a scrapbook of Hall's time at Blue Ridge Sanatorium, an all-white tubercular care facility located in Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as photographs of African American graduates of the nursing school at Piedmont Sanatorium, an African American tubercular care facility located in Burkeville, Virginia, where Hall served as Director.

Other materials in the collection include newspaper clippings and ephemera that relate to Hall's days as a student and nurse.

Arrangement

Collection is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• African American nursing students
• African American students
• Blue Ridge Sanatorium (Charlottesville, Virginia)
• Johnston-Willis Hospital. School of Nursing
• Nurses -- History -- 20th century -- United States
• Nurses -- Virginia
• Photographs
• Piedmont Sanatorium (Burkeville, Virginia)
• Scrapbooks
• Tuberculosis -- Hospitals -- Virginia