The Grady Nurses Conclave Collection was officially donated to the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History during the 2001 Conclave.  The library is located at 101 Auburn Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia.  We are  extremely proud that the history of Ludie Andrews and Grad Memorial Hospital School of Nursing for Black Nurses is now preserved in the national research archives.

 Scope and Content Note

Minutes and agendas, scrapbooks, photographs, reports and historical writings, printed material and ephemera, personal papers of individual nurses, books, and artifacts including textiles make up the National Conclave of Grady Graduate Nurses Collection. The material documents the history and activities of the conclave, the lives and professional accomplishments of its members, the history of Grady Hospital and its School of Nursing, and the historical role of Mrs. Ludie C. Andrews.

Conclave Historian Mary Dixon Smith chaired the Collection Committee (co-chaired by Dora Edwards Way), which coordinated the assembly of National Conclave of Grady Graduate Nurses Collection. In 2000-2001, the Committee solicited biographical information and historical records from Grady Graduates and their families. With these donations, Mrs. Smith created History and Profile books, which contain biographical data on over 100 nurses, and assembled the Conclave's records (minutes, reports, convention programs). Mrs. Smith and the Committee also assisted with an exhibit at Auburn Avenue Research Library, coinciding with the 2001 Conclave in Atlanta, about Mrs. Andrews and the Grady School of Nursing.

Though many Grady Graduates' donations were added to the National Conclave's records, to the Profile books, or used for exhibit, the committee also compiled personal collections from donating nurses. These individual collections, arranged by form, make up all of Series III and IV, and the bulk of Series VI and VII. Thus, the National Conclave of Grady Graduate Nurses Collection includes small collections from the following Grady Graduate Nurses:

Florence Robinette Pyron (Class of 1926): Papers, scrapbook, photographs, artifacts
Dorris Gray Rankin (Class of 1925): Photographs
Kathleen Moon Thomas (Class of 1927): Papers, photographs
Martha Greer Bentley (Class of 1930): Photographs
Berdie Torrence McFarlin (Class of 1934): Photographs
Evelyn Byrd Mosley (Class of 1937): Artifacts
Aquilla Ware Walker (Class of 1937): Photographs
Annie Pearl Williams Welch (Class of 1937): Papers, photographs, artifacts
Verdelle Thomas Taylor (Class of 1939): Papers
Idella Hasty Hogan (Class of 1940): Papers, photographs
Nema Newell (Class of 1940): papers, Photographs
Pecola White Rodriguez (Class of 1940): Scrapbook
Arthur Lee Sawyer Cook (Class of 1943): Papers, artifacts
Frankie Holliday Finnie Bodden (Class of 1944): Photographs
Mada Smith West (Class of 1943): Papers
Verdelle Brim Bellamy, Class of 1947): Artifacts
Inetz Cameron Stanley (Class of 1948): Papers, scrapbooks and books, photographs, artifacts
Phyllis Canady Benjamin (Class of 1950): Papers, photographs, artifacts
Ailean Clayton Ifill (Class of 1950): Papers, photographs
Ramona Jackson Andrews (Class of 1950): Papers
Gertie Rudolph Walker (Class of 1951): Papers
Bama Southall Gray (Class of 1952): Scrapbooks
Dorothy Waters Knox (Class of 1952): Papers, scrapbook
Mildred Cherry (Class of 1954): Papers, photographs
Norma Hughes Scott (Class of 1956): Papers, books
Dora Lee Edwards Way (Class of 1958): Papers, books, artifacts
Annie Nell Edwards Sears (Class of 1958): Photographs, artifacts
Phyllis Perry Paxton (Class of 1963): Papers
Janice Phrethenia Willis (Class of 1964): Photographs, artifacts
Inell Brown Robinson (Class of 1970): Papers
Barbara Lawrence Green (Class of 1972): Papers
Donation of papers, artifacts from Bernice K. Dixon (historian/former Director, Grady Hospital School of Nursing)

 Please visit the Auburn Library to learn more about the collection here.