Born in Canada, Mary Adelaide Nutting had a profound impact on American nursing. She was one of the key figures in modernizing the profession and her work is still influential in the field today. Mary Adelaide Nutting was born to parents Vespasian and Harriet Sophia Peasley Nutting on November 1, 1858 in Quebec, Canada. All of her formative years were spent in and around Quebec and Montreal. Although she became nationally recognized for nursing in the United States, Nutting was not initially drawn to medicine. She was interested in the arts and music and attended schools in Canada and the United States in order to foster her studies in these subjects. Once Nutting completed her education, she taught music at the Cathedral School for Girls in Newfoundland. In the late 1800s, training to be a nurse was relatively new. Florence Nightingale was among the most prominent nurses at the time, who advocated for further advancements in nursing education and experience. Johns Hopkins University, located in Baltimore, Maryland, was the first higher educational institution in the United States to put Nightingales advice into practice. It opened its first nursing program at the John Hopkins Hospital Training School in 1889. Nutting decided to enroll in the first class of the new training program. Nutting started the program at the age of 31 years old. She, along with 17 other students, pursued the degree of nursing at the university. In addition to Nutting’s many accomplishments at Johns Hopkins University, she also made significant contributions to the profession of nursing nationwide. Seeking to disseminate information about nursing practices and the nursing profession more generally, she helped found the American Journal of Nursing in 1900. Nutting was also influential in helping Columbia University, located in New York City, establish its own nursing program. As a result, the university offered Nutting the newly created professorship in nursing. This was the first university in the U.S. to create such a position in the field of nursing. Nutting accepted the position, making her the first woman in America to hold such a post. While at Columbia University, she revolutionized their program. One of her many innovations was the creation of a graduate program for advanced training in the field of nursing. In 1910, the university created the Department of Nursing and Health and Nutting was named head of it. Nutting died in October 1948. But her work continues to have a lasting impact on the nursing profession. She received several awards posthumously. She was inducted into the American Nurses’ Association Hall of Fame in 1976 and became an honoree of the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame in 1994. She authored or co-authored several books on nursing practices, which are still read by students today. These books include History of Nursing and A Sound Economic Basis for Nursing. SOURCE https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mary-adelaide-nutting