Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)

Listen  Florence Nightingale (1890)
This is one the earliest known spoken word recordings.

All recordings copyright © The British Library Board. The recordings on this site are for private listening only; copying, broadcasting or reproduction is prohibited.

This very early spoken word recording was made in Florence Nightingale's house by Colonel Gouraud in 1890. Florence Nightingale became a legend for her two years nursing during the Crimean War, but her major achievement was to raise nursing to the level of a respectable profession for women. Her Notes on Nursing is still in print today. Florence Nightingale believed that infection arose spontaneously in dirty places. Although mistaken, this belief led nevertheless to improvements in hygiene.

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