Stimson (1881-1948) was an American nurse who, among others, has been credited for bringing nursing to the status of a profession.
She received her bachelor's degree from Vassar College in 1901 and a degree from the New York Hospital Training School for Nurses in 1908, after which she held a number of administrative posts in New York City and Missouri where she received her master's degree from Washington University in St Louis in 1917.
She volunteered for military service in April 1917 and as superintendant of the Army Nurse Corps during WWI became the first woman to attain the rank of Major in the US Army.
She was awarded the US Distinguished Service Medal and the Royal Red Cross.
Though she retired from the Army in 1937, Stimson returned after the outbreak of WWII as chief of the Nursing Council on National Defence and recruited a new generation of women to serve as nurses.
She was promoted to full colonel in 1948 shortly before her death, and also served as President of the American Nursing Association from 1938-44.
This collection of her letters home whilst serving in France during WWI was first published in 1918 and includes a photographic portrait of the author.
Echo Library Finding themselves: the letters of an american army chief nurse in a british hospital in france, paperback/julia stimson
