Katharine Jane Densford

Katharine Jane Densford (1890 to 1978) was an American nurse who shaped nursing education and nursing services in the United States. Born in Crothersville, Indiana, she first worked as a teacher and studied history, then turned to nursing during the First World War, graduating from the Vassar Training Camp for Nurses by 1920 and completing a clinical nursing degree at the University of Cincinnati. In 1925 she moved from bedside nursing into educational leadership as assistant dean of the Illinois Training School for Nurses. From 1930 to 1959 she was professor and director of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, the first school of nursing within a university, which she expanded on a set of quality policies she set early on. During the Great Depression she helped create a Learn and Earn program for unemployed nurses. In the Second World War she planned the university's 26th General Hospital and recruited nurses for the war effort, including through the Cadet Nurse Corps. This entry records what is held about her as a historical figure, never medical advice.