Carolyn Conant Van Blarcom
{{Short description|American nurse and midwife (1879-1960)}}
{{infobox person
|name=Carolyn Conant Van Blarcom
|image=Carolyn . Van Blarcom LCCN2014718402.jpg
|birth_date={{birth date|1879|6|12}}
|birth_place=Alton, Illinois, U.S.
|death_date={{death date and age|1960|3|20|1879|6|12}}
|death_place=Arcadia, California, U.S.
|alma_mater=Johns Hopkins School of Nursing
|occupation={{flatlist|
- Nurse
- midwife reformer
}}
|known_for=First American nurse to become a licensed midwife
}}
Carolyn Conant Van Blarcom (June 12, 1879 – March 20, 1960) was an American nurse and midwife reformer.{{cite book |last= Berebitsky | first= Julie |year= 2000|title= Like Our Very Own: Adoption and the Changing Culture of Motherhood, 1851-1950| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aT27AAAAIAAJ|access-date= October 11, 2022|location= Lawrence, Kansas| publisher= University Press of Kansas| page=72| isbn= 978-0-700-61051-8}}{{cite book |last= Mink | first= Gwendolyn |date= August 6, 2018|title= The Wages of Motherhood: Inequality in the Welfare State, 1917–1942| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BpVlDwAAQBAJ|access-date= October 11, 2022|location= Ithaca, New York | publisher= Cornell University Press | page=68| isbn= 978-1-501-72886-0}} In 1913, she became the first American nurse to become a licensed midwife. She made pioneering contributions in preventing childhood blindness.{{cite web |title=This Way Forward: Carolyn Conant Van Blarcom (1875-1961) |url=https://magazine.nursing.jhu.edu/2015/04/this-way-forward-carolyn-conant-van-blarcom-1875-1961/ |website=magazine.nursing.jhu.edu |publisher=JH NURSE |access-date=11 October 2022}} Van Blarcom also played instrumental role in establishing a school for midwives, and extensively contributed in reforming some of the important health institutions in America including the Maryland State Sanatorium for Tuberculosis.{{cite book |last= Ogilvie | first= Marilyn Bailey |year= 2000|title= The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: L-Z| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=LTSYePZvSXYC|access-date= October 11, 2022|location= Oxfordshire| publisher= Taylor & Francis| page=1318| isbn= 978-0-415-92040-7}}
She wrote the first obstetric nursing textbook, and prepared the curriculum for the midwives school.{{cite book |last= Bartlett | first= Marie |date= June 26, 2014|title= The Frontier Nursing Service: America's First Rural Nurse-Midwife Service and School| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qoEepZ0GgGUC|access-date= October 11, 2022|location= Jefferson, North Carolina | publisher= McFarland | page=17| isbn= 978-0-786-49004-2}}
She also served as the health editor of the Delineator, a women's magazine, in which she published a series of articles on pregnancy and infant care.{{cite book |last= Hamilton | first= Diane |date= September 15, 2000|title= Nursing History Review, Volume 9, 2001| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=QVDSCgAAQBAJ|access-date= October 11, 2022|location= New York City | publisher= Springer Publishing Company | page=84| isbn= 978-0-826-11556-0}}
Biography
Born on June 12, 1879, in Alton, Illinois, Carolyn Conant Van Blarcom was the daughter of William Dixon Van Blarcom and Fanny Conant. In 1898 she enrolled as a pupil nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital Training School for Nurses.{{cite web |title=CAROLYN CONANT VAN BLARCOM COLLECTION |url=https://medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/collection/carolyn-conant-van-blarcom-collection/ |website=JHU |publisher=THE ALAN MASON CHESNEY MEDICAL ARCHIVES |access-date=11 October 2022}}
After her graduation in 1901, she stayed at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Training School for Nurses, for four years, and served as instructor in obstetrics, and assistant superintendent of nurses. Her work experiences here made her as an authority on obstetrical nursing.{{cite book |last= Van Betten | first= Patricia T. |year= 2003|title= Nursing Illuminations: A Book of Days, Volume 218| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vjdtAAAAMAAJ|access-date= October 11, 2022|location= Maryland Heights, Missouri| publisher= Mosby| page=16| isbn= 978-0-323-02584-3}}{{cite book |last= Fraser | first= Gertrude Jacinta |date= June 30, 2009|title= African American Midwifery in the South: Dialogues of Birth, Race, and Memory| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Y9qY7ibI8T8C|access-date= October 11, 2022|location= Cambridge, USA| publisher= Harvard University Press | page=116| isbn= 978-0-674-03720-5}}
In 1905, she moved to St. Louis, where she reorganized a training school for nurses. Briefly in 1908, she was the director of the Maryland Tuberculosis Sanitarium at Sibillisville. She later moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where she became a director in a private sanitarium for tuberculosis patients.
In recognizing her organizational skills, in 1909, she was appointed as secretary of the New York State Committee for the Prevention of Blindness. This new assignment provided her opportunities to study the leading cause of preventable blindness in newborns. In association with Russell Sage Foundation, she undertook a survey of midwifery practices, and its related laws across several countries including the United States and England. In 1913, the result of this study was published as The Midwife in England.{{cite book |last= Ettinger | first= Laura Elizabeth |year= 2006|title= Nurse-midwifery: The Birth of a New American Profession| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=q68mHyW1BjoC|access-date= October 11, 2022|location= Columbus, Ohio | publisher= Ohio State University Press | page=14| isbn= 978-0-814-21023-9}}
Van Blarcom was one of the pioneers in making nursing as the educational base for midwifery. Equally she advocated the need for professional training for the nurses, particularly public health nurses in midwifery.{{sfn| Ettinger |2006|p=13}}{{cite book |last= Wilkie | first= Laurie A. |year= 2003|title= The Archaeology of Mothering: An African-American Midwife's Tale| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0JHDJotOVuIC|access-date= October 11, 2022|location= London| publisher= Psychology Press | page=197| isbn= 978-0-415-94570-7}}
She extensively wrote on midwifery, and her textbook "instructed nurses how to hold back the baby's head".{{cite book |last= Perkins | first= Barbara Bridgman |year= 2004|title= The Medical Delivery Business: Health Reform, Childbirth, and the Economic Order| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=00XcKKy0S3gC|access-date= October 11, 2022|location= New Brunswick, New Jersey| publisher= Rutgers University Press| page=35| isbn= 978-0-813-53328-5}}
She was also associated with the American Red Cross.
She died of bronchopneumonia on March 20, 1960, in Arcadia, California.{{cite web |title=Van Blarcom, Carolyn (1879–1960) |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/van-blarcom-carolyn-1879-1960 |website=encyclopedia.com |publisher=encyclopedia.com |access-date=11 October 2022}}
Publication
Van Blarcom’s publications include
- Obstetrical Nursing (1922), first obstetric nursing textbook,{{cite book |last= Dreher | first= Heyward Michael |date= December 15, 2010|title= Role Development for Doctoral Advanced Nursing Practice| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cBMlAgAAQBAJ|access-date= October 11, 2022|location= New York City | publisher= Springer Publishing Company | page=71| isbn= 978-0-826-10556-1}}
- Getting Ready to be a Mother (1922)
- Building the Baby (1929)
References
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