About this collection
Open from 1920 to 1962, the St. Philip School of Nursing was founded by the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) to educate Black nurses, who were prohibited from attending existing nursing programs due to the 1902 Virginia Constitution, which upheld segregation in education. St. Philip Hospital was MCV’s segregated hospital for Black Richmonders. Black nursing students were first admitted into the MCV School of Nursing in 1957, and the last class at St. Philip graduated in 1962.
At its inception, classes were held at St. Philip Hospital. In 1931, the school moved to St. Philip Hall on Marshall Street. The hall served as a building for classrooms and laboratories, and also had dormitory and recreational space. Students often attended social events at Virginia Union University.
While in theory nursing school followed the “separate but equal” doctrine created by the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) U.S. Supreme Court case, in reality students at St. Philip faced challenges their white counterparts at MCV did not. They were often using leftover equipment, and dealing with racism from white patients, doctors, and staff. All instructors were white until 1941, when the school hired four Black instructors.
A St. Philip education was highly sought after, as it offered a three-year diploma program, a B.S. in nursing program, and started a public health nursing program resulting with a B.S. in nursing education in 1936. Students ranged from Virginia residents to out-of-state students from North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, New York and New Jersey. Over forty-two years, 791 Black women graduated from St. Philip, and were highly sought after for nursing positions across the country and internationally.
To learn more about the St. Philip School of nursing, visit the VCU Libraries digital gallery, explore the Office of Healthy Equity’s learning module “Assessing Structural Racism by Understanding St. Philip Hospital and School of Nursing”, or read the “remembering St. Philip” piece.
Additional research information
The St. Philip Nursing School yearbooks are housed in Special Collections and Archives at the Health Sciences Library. VCU Libraries does not currently have a full set of St. Philip yearbooks, if you have a yearbook to contribute please email libsca@vcu.edu or call (804) 828-9898.
Copyright
This collection is of mixed copyright status and includes items that are in the public domain as well as items that are of unknown copyright status. See individual items for item-specific copyright information. Acknowledgment of Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as a source is required.
Credits
VCU Libraries began digitizing this collection in 2023-2024. Katie Condon supervised student employees, digitization, and quality control. Student employees Cynthia Blaise, Naomy Cardoso Perez, and Susan Grube assisted with digitization. Collections care support provided by Nora Bloch. Accessibility work was completed by Long Thai and Irina Rogova. Irina Rogova and Karen Bjork created the descriptive metadata.
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The Mirror, Saint Philip Hospital School of Nursing, 1927
Yearbooks from the Saint Philip School of Nursing include black and white photographs of faculty, clinic instructors, and students. Also included are informational sections such a list of alumnae, class history, information about the school's endowment fund, the class prophecy, a class will, class song, class poem, senior class statistics, and advertisements. In this copy, a handwritten inscription on the front endsheet reads: "Maude Baynham Hentz".
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The Light, Saint Philip Hospital School of Nursing, 1939
Yearbooks from the Saint Philip School of Nursing include black and white photographs of faculty, clinic instructors, and students. Also included are informational sections such as a class history, the class prophecy, the class president's philosophy, a class will, photographs of student activities, jokes, and advertisements. In this copy, a handwritten inscription on the front endsheet reads: "Sylvia Voux Daily".
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The Light, Saint Philip Hospital School of Nursing, 1940
Yearbooks from the Saint Philip School of Nursing include black and white photographs of faculty, clinic instructors, and students. Also included are informational sections such as the class president's philosophy, class poem, class will, and advertisements. In this copy, a handwritten inscription on the front endsheet reads: "Sylvia Voux Daily".
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The Light, Saint Philip Hospital School of Nursing, 1943
Yearbooks from the Saint Philip School of Nursing include black and white photographs of faculty, clinic instructors, and students. Also included are informational sections such as class histories, information about the school's endowment fund, the class prophecy, student organizations, a class poem and class song, photographs of student activities, and advertisements. In this copy, a handwritten inscription on the front endsheet reads: "Miss Jessee Mae Brown, 914 Glasgow Dr., Portsmouth Va." Throughout the yearbook are handwritten notations, including checkmarks next to individual student names and photographs, and the word "Dead" written over some student photographs.
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The Light, Saint Philip Hospital School of Nursing, 1944
Yearbooks from the Saint Philip School of Nursing include black and white photographs of faculty, clinic instructors, and students. Also included are informational sections such as class histories, information about the school's endowment fund, the class prophecy, student organizations, a class poem and class song, photographs of student activities, and a directory. In this copy, a handwritten inscription on the front endsheet reads: "Sylvia Vaux Daily Hines."
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The Light, Saint Philip Hospital School of Nursing, 1946
Yearbooks from the Saint Philip School of Nursing include black and white photographs of faculty, clinic instructors, and students. Also included are informational sections such as student organizations,a Who's Who, class song, illustrations, and advertisements . In this copy, a handwritten inscription on the front endsheet reads: "6-5-47 Property of Miss P.L. Wilkinson, R.N., St. Philip Dorm Room 119". There are several autographs on page 33. A handwritten inscription on the back endsheet reads: "Miss Pearl L. Wilkinson, R.N."
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The Light, Saint Philip Hospital School of Nursing, 1950
Yearbooks from the Saint Philip School of Nursing include black and white photographs of faculty, clinic instructors, and students. Also included are informational sections such as a history of the school, the honor code, a class directory, class history, class prophecy, class "Last Will and Testament," senior activities, class poem, an alumnae directory, patrons, and advertisements.
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The Light, Saint Philip Hospital School of Nursing, 1951
Yearbooks from the Saint Philip School of Nursing include black and white photographs of faculty, clinic instructors, and students. Also included are informational sections such as the honor code, class song, class directory, class history, class prophecy, class "Last Will and Testament," prose and poetry, superlatives, patrons, and advertisements. In this copy, a handwritten inscription on the front endsheet reads: "[Pend?] L.W. Bland RN, 1803 - Carter St., Richmond, Va."
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The Light, Saint Philip Hospital School of Nursing, 1952
Yearbooks from the Saint Philip School of Nursing include black and white photographs of faculty, clinic instructors, and students. Also included are informational sections such as a history of the school, class directory, superlatives, class history, class poem and song, class "Last Will and Testament," patrons, and advertisements.
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The Light, Saint Philip Hospital School of Nursing, 1953
Yearbooks from the Saint Philip School of Nursing include black and white photographs of buildings, faculty, clinic instructors, and students. Also included are informational sections such as a history of the school, class directory, superlatives, a nurse's prayer, class history, poems, class prophecy, class will, patrons, and advertisements. In this copy, a handwritten inscription on the front endsheet reads: "Property of Miss Louise Willis" and "Mrs Louise Vaughan Willis" Additionally, the word "Dead" is handwritten next to several photographs throughout the yearbook.
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The Light, Saint Philip Hospital School of Nursing, 1954
Yearbooks from the Saint Philip School of Nursing include black and white photographs of buildings, faculty, clinic instructors, and students. Also included are informational sections such as a history of the school, class history, superlatives, class prophecy, class song, class directory, student activities, patrons, autographs, and advertisements. In this copy, the word "died" is handwritten next to several photographs throughout the yearbook. Also handwritten next to some photographs locations, presumably where the nurse pictured was located when the writer investigated where they ended up.
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The Lamp, Saint Philip Hospital School of Nursing, 1955
Yearbooks from the Saint Philip School of Nursing include black and white photographs of buildings, faculty, clinic instructors, and students. Also included are informational sections such as a history of the school, class song, class history, class poem, class prophecy, class will, patrons, and advertisements. In this copy, a book plate on the inside front cover reads "Presented to Tompkins-McCaw Library Medical College of Virginia by Dr. R.B. Smith"