Constance Cole Waxter Collection

Biography

Constance Heard Cole Waxter was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1921 to Mary Dunlap Heard, JHH School of Nursing Class of 1917, and Osborne Overton Heard. She attended Blue Ridge College from 1939 to 1941 before receiving her nursing diploma from Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Nursing in 1944. She was Head Nurse in the Wilmer Institute from 1944 to 1945, on graduate duty in the Wilmer Institute in 1946, and was the 3-11 Supervisor in the Wilmer Institute in 1948. In 1951, she worked as Supervisor of Nurses at the Hillcrest Infirmary in Alabama. Her long career at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1956 to 1976 included positions as instructor of Surgical Nursing in the Halsted Clinic, instructor in the Women’s Clinic, assistant director of obstetric and gynecological nursing, assistant director of the nursing department, staff assistant to the Women’s Clinic and Department of Nursing, and finally as special assistant to the director of nursing service. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Johns Hopkins University in 1969. Waxter became the first president of the Nurses Association of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in 1969. She acted as the president of the Johns Hopkins Nurses Alumni Association from 1976-1977.

Scope and Content

The Constance Cole Waxter Collection consists of materials related to her professional nursing career. Included are materials related to her time as a student nurse at Johns Hopkins and member of the Cadet Nurse Corps, including photographs and uniforms. The bulk of the collection relates to Waxter’s work at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Included are materials relating to her work at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Women’s Clinic, Center for Experimentation and Development in Nursing (CEDN) projects – particularly the A4B4 project, her time as Employee Relations Nurse – focusing on staff turnover rates, and redevelopment plans for the clinic, including blueprints. Also included are search materials for a new Johns Hopkins Hospital Director of Nursing, some curriculum related materials and lectures, nursing studies and reports, and scholarship committee work. The collection also documents her involvement with professional nursing organizations, including the Maryland Nurses Association, her founding presidency of the Nurses Association of The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and her work with and presidency of the Johns Hopkins Nurses Alumni Association.

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Sarah E. Allison Collection

Joan Backscheider Collection

Judy Crews-Hanks Collection

Dorothea Orem Collection

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