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Washington, D.C., circa 1924. "Radio at Garfield Hospital." We're happy to report this patient has been discharged. National Photo glass negative. View full size.
The uniforms designed this way had separate detachable cuffs, bib aprons and collars that were heavily starched to provide a neat appearance and some level of protection from stains.
Nurses, however, did not launder their own uniforms at this time. The uniforms were provided by the hospitals for the nursing students, and laundry service alone was frequently a benefit of employment for graduate nurses who lived in the nurse's home or residence on the grounds of the hospital. (Married nurses were not allowed, so taking care of housing them was part of the hospital's benefit of employment.) The industrial type laundry service provided was much more capable of laundering such a quantity of uniforms than nurses could who lived in a residence hall in individual rooms could themselves. Particularly the starching and ironing process required to render collars, aprons, cuffs and to a lesser extent, the dresses, starched to a cardboard like surface. The nurse's uniforms came with several sets of these items, at least a week's worth at a time, so they could be changed daily, or more frequently in the event of heavy stains or other damage.
Usually two or three caps, depending on the hospital policy, were provided, or at very least, available for purchase, and also laundered with the rest. This kept the appropriate portions of the cap starched stiff, like the cuff portion of the cap you see here. Name tags were required on every piece to avoid confusion when they were returned to the nurses who owned them. The nurses were generally required to provide the name tags themselves.
Yes, the reason for the cuffs is that they are not permanently attached to the dress, and thus when they become soiled they can easily be replaced with clean ones. They protect the dress, Ms Nurse would only have to wash her cuffs and collar after work rather than her entire uniform.
That radio reminds me of one of the first crystal radios I made in Boy Scouts. Possibly one of the first crystal radios on the market. For those who don't know crystal radios do not operate under any outside power source or battery.
We used to use the bed springs. They worked well for local stations in Philadelphia. The ground was clipped to the cold water valve, or the radiator pipe in a pinch. (That looks like a headphone condenser between the two binding posts)
I don't see a cat's whisker, either. Maybe there's a fixed galena wired in somewhere.
I wonder if this man has been rolled to a day room for a break, or for fresh air?
It looks like double doors behind the bed, possibly opening onto a porch.
@vrteach: It's not the light switch placement that's awkward, it's the placement of the hospital bed in front of the door.
Or an early Walkman.
The Nurses sleeves are to prevent the patient from getting a glimpse of bare arm and sending them into a frenzy of uncontrollable desire.
Rather bulky compared with today's "robes" that one wears in the hospital. I don't know much about radio history, but that radio looks a bit like a war surplus one.
That light switch seems kind of awkward to get to, but perhaps it is a switch for something else.
However, the nurse is top-notch. Do the cuffs that she is wearing serve some purpose?
With no antenna and no grounding, that crystal set won't pick up too much. As long as that nurse was there, though, who'd care?
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