Mary Sanders Price Collection

Biography

Mary Sanders was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. She received her B.A. in 1926 from Bucknell University. After teaching high school for four years, she attended the Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Nursing and graduated in 1934. She served in several nursing positions at the Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1934 until 1939, when she became the director of instruction at Rhode Island General Hospital. She returned to Johns Hopkins in 1941 and was chief nurse with the Johns Hopkins 118th Unit during World War II. In 1947, she joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing and in 1948 received an M.A. from the Teachers’ College at Columbia University. She left the University of Pittsburgh in 1952 and, after serving as vacation relief for several summers on the Marburg nursing staff at Johns Hopkins, she became director of the School of Nursing and Nursing Service at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Price held this post for 15 years, during which time she cut the working hours of student nurses and helped establish a nursing museum and a nursing room in the library. She also developed in-service training programs, and during her administration the first male nursing students were admitted to the program.

Scope and Content

The Mary Sanders Price Collection covers her service in World War II. It consists primarily of photographs and memorabilia she collected while serving as chief nurse of the 118th General Hospital in Australia and the Philippine Islands. It includes correspondence, invitations, menus, and a certificate of her appointment to the rank of lieutenant colonel. There are also items related to her marriage, while in the Philippines, to the Rev. Harry Price, the chaplain of the 118th General. The photograph collection contains approximately 400 images of the unit; the scenes are mostly of the daily routines of the doctors and nurses. Included in the photograph collection is an image of Mary Sanders Price leading Eleanor Roosevelt on a tour of hospital facilities. The memorabilia includes newspaper clippings, pennants, programs, a patient guidebook, and other publications. The collection provides an extensive photographic record of the 118th General Hospital. Additional original material pertaining to Price can be found in the records of the Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Nursing.

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