Figure 16. The original MGH nurse's cap (top) and the MGH flat top (bottom). Image courtesy of the Massachusetts General Hospital Nursing Alumnae Association.
Figure 17. A student and a graduate nurse wearing their MGH flat tops in the 1960s. Image courtesy of the Massachusetts General Hospital Nursing Alumnae Association.
Johns Hopkins
The Johns Hopkins cap did not have a nickname, but its unique style was widely recognized and coveted. A Johns Hopkins nursing cap was immediately identifiable. It was a mark of prestige, indicating that you worked with the nation's nursing leaders and knew doctors with names like Welch or Osler.[10]
Miss Susan Read introduced the fragile, almost transparent organdy pouf cap, originally large enough to contain the hair for cleanliness.[11] The cap was subsequently reduced in size, but the shape remained constant. The cap was worn by both students and graduates until the 1940s when a new, Dutch-style winged cap with the initials JHH emblazoned on the front was introduced for students (Figures 18 and 19).
Figure 18 (a). The renowned Johns Hopkins graduate cap. (b) The trademark Johns Hopkins student nurse cap. Image courtesy of Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.
Figure 19. Head nurses writing reports while wearing Johns Hopkins graduate caps. Image courtesy of Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.
In the hospital, a nurse's cap could identify her alma mater to colleagues, patients, and physicians. In a letter to the American Journal of Nursing in 1931, nurse Julia Gardner wrote, "When entering a strange hospital, as an affiliating student or visitor, it is almost like seeing a familiar face to see the cap of one's own school on a nurse there."[12]
Caps, along with crisp white aprons or unforms, had a pronounced effect on the public. Kalisch and Kalisch write of the St. Luke's nurses' "airily poised little caps of sheer white" conjuring up an "image of exquisite orderliness."[6] No doubt many young girls were influenced to pursue a nursing career after seeing, and yearning for, one of those caps.