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Pictures of NursingPictures of Nursing

Pictures of NursingPictures of Nursing

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Nurses: On the Job

What do we see when we look closely?

Examine this commemorative postcard that depicts nurses working as stretcher-bearers produced by the Japanese Red Cross to celebrate the founding of the Red Cross by Henry Dunant in 1859.
Roll over different areas of the postcard to discover answers to the questions below.

    • Q1Can you identify the characteristics of the Japanese nursing uniform?
    • A1The nurses of the Japanese Red Cross wore uniforms specially designed for neatness and mobility.
    • Q2Can you spot the divided skirt?
    • A2A divided skirt gathered at the knee enables maximum flexibility while meeting cultural requirements for feminine modesty.
    • Q3How does the uniform differ from traditional Japanese dress?
    • A3Straight-lined robes known as kimonos are traditional Japanese garments. The Red Cross nurses' uniform, designed for efficiency, was ridiculed but after nurses' contributions during the Russo-Japanese war (1904–5), public perceptions began to change.
Five Japanese Red Cross female nurses in white carrying a stretcher in a field with building behind.
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A Japanese postcard commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Red Cross, 1959

    • Q1Can you identify the characteristics of the Japanese nursing uniform?
    • A1The nurses of the Japanese Red Cross wore uniforms specially designed for neatness and mobility.
    • Q2Can you spot the divided skirt?
    • A2A divided skirt gathered at the knee enables maximum flexibility while meeting cultural requirements for feminine modesty.
    • Q3How does the uniform differ from traditional Japanese dress?
    • A3Straight-lined robes known as kimonos are traditional Japanese garments. The Red Cross nurses' uniform, designed for efficiency, was ridiculed but after nurses' contributions during the Russo-Japanese war (1904–5), public perceptions began to change.
  • 1Can you identify the characteristics of the Japanese nursing uniform?
  • 2Can you spot the divided skirt?
  • 3How does the uniform differ from traditional Japanese dress?

Choose another postcard from Nurses: On the Job

  • White female army nurse in uniform and cap, visible from chest up.
  • Five Japanese women nurses and one male doctor, tending to two Russian wounded men.
  • A White female nurse, stands with young White woman and points into distance.
  • Large room filled with several dozen White women looking forward.
  • Three White female nurses in white aprons and a White male doctor hold babies.
  • An African American female nurse in white holds diploma and looks at the viewer.
  • A White female nurse in white squats down while talking with a White mother and child.
  • Female nurse in white shaking hands with another female nurse, in front of group of women nurses.
  • A White female nurses in white visible from shoulder up on left, on right is stamp.