Nursing effects

As part of a recent accession of books, lecture notes and exam papers from a Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh nursing student, LHSA has also received some interesting nurse’s equipment. These are a laundry bag (our reference O553), collar (O552), and a name badge and blue ribbon (O554).

The laundry bag

The bag would have been used to take work-stained clothing to the Infirmary laundry, and it has both the nurse’s name stitched onto it and a special laundry code, ‘H26’. It measures 630x770x20mm and dates from the early 1970s. The collar is made of a denim type material and was worn by first year students. According to the donor, the blue velvet ribbon was to be worn with the blue nurse’s uniform after their final exams were completed. It was therefore to be worn with a strong sense of pride.

The badge and ribbon

These effects give a small insight into the lives of nursing staff in Edinburgh and complement other hospital uniforms, badges and equipment which LHSA already has in its collections.