Received from the Washington State Nurses Association in several additions between 1970 and 1983.
The Washington State Nurses Association was established in 1908 as the Washington State Graduate Nurses Association. It was organized by representative from five county nurses' organizations, and its original character was that of a professional organization. Much of its early activity involved establishing a system of registration and professional licensing for nurses. The organization changed its name for Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) in 1940. The WSNA continues to be an organization limited to registered nurses, and has been affiliated with American Nurses' Association since it was founded. In 1948 the organization established an Economic Security Program to pursue collective bargaining; its first collective bargaining contract was with the Boeing Company in 1949. By the 1960s, the WSNA considered itself as much a labor union as a professional organization, and represented registered nurses in hospitals around the state as well as in industry. The organization continued to be active in supporting Washington State legislation defining the scope responsibilities and standards relating to nurses' work, and fought for collective bargaining rights for health care and public employees. In the 1980s the WSNA faced a challenge when nurses at Group Health Cooperative decertified the organization as their bargaining agent, formed an independent union, and soon affililated with District 1199, an independent union that later affiliated with the Service Employees International Union. A similar pattern emerged at other workplaces, and by 1990 almost half the WSNA bargaining units had been lost to other organizations by. Since the 1990s the two unions have agreed not to raid each other. The WSNA joined United American Nurses in 2000, and thus gained affiliation with the AFL-CIO. Later leaving to join the short-lived National Federation of Nursing, the WSNA stayed with that organization when it folded into the American Federation of Teachers in 2013, and continues to be affiliated with the American Nurses' Association as well.
Organizational records (1908-1972) include articles of incorporation and bylaws as well as organizational histories and transcripts of oral history interviews with early active members of the organization. Also included are membership and officer rosters for various periods and reports from staff and officers to the Board of Directors. Minutes of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee meetings (1913-1975) provide an overview of the association's activities during this period.
District correspondence, minutes and newsletter files (1921-1975) provide details on the activities of local units of the WSNA. Correspondence files include communications between the state organization and the American Nurses' Association, as well as with public agencies and other organizations. Areas of emphasis are health care policy, legislation to define the nature of nurses' work, and collective bargaining legislation.
Financial records (1918-1977) include materials related to the administration of a loan fund for nurses and a fund which provided welfare payments to nurses in times of special need.
Convention records (1908-1978) contain reports from constituent units of the Association, from officers and geographic (District) units, as well as proceedings records and minutes. Conference records (1949-1975) document educational conferences organized by the WSNA as well as conferences on health policy issues and nurses' working conditions and scope of reponsibilities.
Records of committees, commissions, sections and interest groups (1922-1980) contain minutes and working materials of groups focused on areas of organizational concern (committees and commissions) or areas of nursing practice (sections).
Economic Security Program was the name given to the collective bargaining activities of the WSNA from the late 1940s until the early 1970s. The associated records contain materials on organizing, negotiations, struggles for bargaining unit recognitions and agreements with a wide variety of employers. Also included are materials on economic issues of other sorts, such as wage controls in the 1970s and state and federal collective bargaining law.
Subject files contain material on a wide range of public policy issues affecting health care and nurses, publicity and public relations materials, and relations with related organizations. Research study records (1950s) include raw and processed data from surveys on conditions in nurse workplaces as well as reports.
Audio recordings, most of which have been transcribed, include interviews in the 1950s with nurses involved in organizing the WSNA as well as proceedings of the 1955 and 1957 conventions. These are recorded on 6 inch and 8 inch Audograph disks.
Records of activities of other organizations form separate series. They are part of the WSNA records because WSNA officers were also active in leading these organizations: Washington State Health Council and Washington State Joint Commission for the Improvement of the Care of the Patient (JCICP).
The records of the Politically United Nurses for Consumer Health (PUNCH) (1972-1974) form a subgroup of the WSNA records. This affiliated organization was a political action committee founded by the WSNA.
Records of two separate but related organizations are included here because their records were maintained by the WSNA for a period of time and remained with the organization. The records of the State of Washington Associated Nursing Students (SWANS) (1957-1970) are those of an organization of student nurses. The records of the Washington State Organization for Public Health Nursing (1936-1949), an organization allied with the WSNA, apparently went to the WSNA when it was disbanded.
This accession is a merger of previous accessions: 1807-001, 1937-001, 1385-005, 1385-006, 1385-007, 1385-008 and 1559-001.
Forms a part of the Labor Archives of Washington
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