Irene Sutliffe, RN Papers

Irene Sutliffe, RN was born in Albany, NY on November 12, 1850. In 1880, she received a nursing degree from New York Hospital Training School for Nurses. From 1880-1886, she organized nursing schools at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn and Hamot Hospital in Erie, PA. In 1886, she returned to New York Hospital Training School for Nurses where she served as the directoress from 1886-1902. During the Spanish American War in 1898, she established a nursing service at Camp Black in Hempstead, Long Island for the Red Cross. She came out of retirement in 1908 to organize the social service program at New York Hospital's House of Relief on Hudson Street and in 1916 to operate a special hospital for victims of the polio epidemic.

Throughout her career, Sutliffe was active in nursing education. She was a charter member of the Superintendents of Schools of Nursing in 1893. She was well regarded by her colleagues and students who included Lillian Wald, Minnie Gordon, and Annie Goodrich.