Title: Nightingale lamp

Identifier: Country Doctor Museum   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/14371)

Description: This type of lamp was often given to women who graduated from nursing school in the United States during the early to mid - 20th century. The lamp is modeled after the oil lamp used by Florence Nightingale, who was known to care for her patients even in the dark of night. Since nurses graduating from school in the 20th century did not need candles to light their way, the lamps were given to them as a keepsake. The lamp can function, however, as a candle holder. The nurses in this photograph are holding their lanterns during a capping ceremony at Rex Hospital School of Nursing in 1945.