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Collection LamE : Ellen N. La Motte Collection

Description

Key

90645

Reference Code Element

LamE

Type

Text

Dates

1911-1931

Extent

0.20 cubic feet (1 box)

Creator

Personal name, La Motte, Ellen N.

Administrative/Biographical History

Ellen Newbold La Motte
27 Nov 1873-2 March 1961
Ellen N. La Motte was born in Louisville, Kentucky. After graduation from the Johns Hopkins Training School for Nurses in 1902, she served as supervising nurse for the Johns Hopkins Hospital. From 1904 to 1905 she was assistant superintendent at St. Luke's Hospital in St. Louis. From 1905 to 1910 she was a tuberculosis nurse with the Instructive Visiting Nurses Association in Baltimore. She was then Superintendent of the Tuberculosis Division of the Baltimore Health Department until 1913. From 1914 to 1916, she served with the American Ambulance Serivce in Paris and as a nurse at a French Army field hospital in Belgium. She described her experiences in Backwash of War. She was the author of numerous books and articles on her nursing and wartime experiences. She became an authority on the problem of opium trafficking, and counseled the League of Nations. In 1930 she was awarded the Lin Tse Hsu Memorial Medal by the Chinese Nationalist government for her work. She also received the Order of Merit from the Japanese Red Cross, of which she was a special member. She remained active in the Johns Hopkins Nurses Alumnae Association as well as the Hugenot Society of America, the Author's League, Society of Women Geographers and the Women's National Republican Club in New York.
Her publications include:
The Tuberculosis Nurse 1914
Backwash of War 1916
Peking Dust 1919
Civilization 1919
The Opium Monopoly 1920
The Ethics of Opium 1924
Snuffs and Butters 1925
Opium at Geneva 1929, JHHSON class of 1902

Chronology

Johns Hopkins Hospital Training School for Nurses, student, 1899-1902

Scope and Content

The Ellen N. La Motte Collection consists of 16 letters written by La Motte between December 1911 and August 1916 to Amy Wesselhoeft von Erdberg, a close friend and confidante living in Germany. Letters follow La Motte through Europe and have datelines: Baltimore, Paris, London, and Chicago. The letters touch on her literary activities, as she wrote and published The Tuberculosis Nurse (1914) and her anti-war book Backwash of War (1916). She discusses her interest in the suffrage movement, noting William Osler's views on suffrage and visits with friends, including Gertrude Stein and Claribel Cone. She discusses British militant suffragette Mary Richardson who slashed a portrait in the National Gallery in London, to draw attention to the suffrage cause. Also included are articles written by La Motte published in The Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine.

Subjects - Name

Corporate name, Johns Hopkins Hospital. School of Nursing. Class of 1902

Language

English

Administration

Date(s) of Descriptions

2004, 2006, 2016

Processing Information

The Ellen N. La Motte Collection was processed by Anthony Dellureficio 2004 and described by Elisabeth Sultzbaugh and Ruth Carver in 2006 through a grant from the Johns Hopkins Nurses' Alumni Association. A later accession of letters was processed and described by Phoebe Evans Letocha in 2016.

Accession

2021-030

2019-059

2019-029

2016-056

2016-025

Composed Of

Found 5 record(s)

Reference Code and Titlesort by Reference Code and Title ascending	Key (Collection)sort by Key (Collection) ascending	Dates	Record Levelsort by Record Level ascending	Hierarchysort by Hierarchy ascending
1- Correspondence to Amy Wesselhoeft von Erdberg	242364	December 19, 1911-December 25, 1913	Folder	CollectionLamE- Ellen N. La Motte Collection
2- Correspondence to Amy Wesselhoeft von Erdberg	242365	February 14-June 24, 1914	Folder	CollectionLamE- Ellen N. La Motte Collection
3- Correspondence to Amy Wesselhoeft von Erdberg	242366	March 14, 1915-August 17, 1916	Folder	CollectionLamE- Ellen N. La Motte Collection
4- Ellen La Motte, "A Desert Owl" article in The Atlantic Monthly	90648	January 1927	Folder	CollectionLamE- Ellen N. La Motte Collection
5- Ellen La Motte, "The Three Widows" article in Harpers Magazine	90646	March 1931	Folder	CollectionLamE- Ellen N. La Motte Collection

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