TWU announces Florence Nightingale Collection acquisition

May 15, 2026 - DENTON - She is known globally as the founder of modern nursing and health informatics, and her pioneering methods in care were credited with saving countless lives. Now, a trove of artifacts chronicling the life and service of the world's most famous nurse, Florence Nightingale, has a new home at Texas Woman's University.

The acquisition of the collection was announced this week - fittingly during National Nurses Month - and on the heels of National Nurses Week and Nightingale's birthday, which was May 12.

The Nightingale collection includes approximately 350 pieces of ephemera, books, artifacts, letters and additional materials written by and related to Nightingale. Included in the collection are first editions of Nightingale's famous work - Notes on Nursing - in every language in which it was published.

Nightingale was born in 1820 in Florence, Italy, and from an early age decided to pursue nursing. She wrote more than 150 books and other published materials related to health care and was famous for making hospitals safer and more sanitary. She also was credited with substantially lowering mortality rates for hospitalized soldiers during the Crimean War from 1854-1856. Her statistical data on morbidity and mortality form the basis of what is now known as health informatics.

"This collection is about more than nursing sentimentality. Rather, the collection paints a fuller picture of this complex woman who founded what we now know as professional nursing," said Stephanie Woods, PhD, TWU's College of Nursing dean. "I could not be prouder to have this collection at TWU. I believe the collection will draw students, nurses, informaticists, historians and women's studies scholars to TWU."

Texas Woman's acquired the collection from TWU alum Tony Paterniti, PhD, RN. Paterniti earned a Master of Science in Nursing from TWU and enjoyed a long nursing career, including a faculty appointment at TWU. He led staff development for the Methodist Health System in Dallas and was also a home health nurse. According to Woods, Paterniti is the consummate nurse educator.

Paterniti's interest in Florence Nightingale began in 1980 with the purchase of the first edition of Notes on Nursing. He did not begin collecting other Nightingale memorabilia until several years later, but it sparked a fascination over her artifacts. He eventually added more books and memorabilia, including a Nightingale Nursing School pin and items from her memorial service.

"I have worked with Dr. Paterniti over the years to share this amazing collection with the public," Woods said. "He has taught me so much about Nightingale, and when I look at the collection it tells me what nursing has done and what it can do in the future."

Although the collection was just recently moved permanently to TWU, it is not the first time the collection has been at TWU. It was on display for eight years (2016-2024) at TWU's Blagg-Huey Library on loan from Paterniti. Woods said the collection now belongs to TWU because of the respectful relationship and partnership among Dr. Paterniti, TWU Libraries, and the College of Nursing.

Because TWU Libraries has previously held the collection, Dean of Libraries Suzanne Sellers said the collection will be available to researchers immediately.

According to Woods, the TWU collection is one of seven major Nightingale collections across the United States.

"We are a major nursing school nearing our 75th anniversary. Major schools should have major collections. All schools of nursing can in part trace their history back to Nightingale. We value our history and the history of nursing," Woods said.

"The collection will allow us to do a lot of storytelling, expanding on what is known about Nightingale. This will be the first significant collection specific to nursing for TWU," Woods said. "We hope that parts of the collection can travel to all three TWU campuses and far beyond. We think there will be interest in hosting parts of the collection. I want to dream big about how this collection and the legacy of Dr. Paterniti can impact nursing, health informatics and historians from a variety of disciplines."

Florence Nightingale Collection at TWU

Florence Nightingale Biography

Page last updated 5:39 PM, May 15, 2026