Mystery RingRecently, a ring came into my possession that has left me with a nagging question. It is a graduation ring from Peninsula General Hospital School of Nursing – class of 1925. It belonged to Mrs. Martha B. Harrington and has a red stone in a gold setting. Engraved on the stone is “P G H’ and the year “25”. Also on the stone, in the middle, is a skull and crossbones. I haven’t found anybody that can tell me what this signifies. The only one close to that date that I know of is from the class of 1934 and theirs didn’t have a skull and crossbones. I could understand if it was a caduceus or some other medical emblem. The skull and crossbones is the symbol for poison, something that would not correspond to the healing vocation this lady had.
I found her picture in the 1954 volume put out by the Peninsula General Hospital Nurses Alumnae Association and there was no indication she was any different than the other six graduates that year. In fact, by 1954, when the book was published, she was a housewife.
The history of the ladies that graduated is quite interesting. The graduating classes numbered much lower than today’s classes. The classes of today graduate from Salisbury University with a specialized degree in whatever field they chose. By 1954, they listed the current whereabouts of all known graduates. Five of the seven graduates in Mrs. Harrington’s class were, like her, housewives by 1954. Another was a private duty nurse and the other was an industrial nurse at Armour Chesapeake. This was only 29 years after they graduated. I imagine that is a long time when you see so much sickness and dying on a daily basis. But, still, these ladies were all around 50 years old and had so much more to give to humanity. They probably all got married and had a family they wanted to spend more time with. According to the book, they all got married, but unlike school teachers in the early days, they could get married and still practice their profession.
The ring or its identity are not the mystery, the skull and crossbones are, as yet, still to be explained. Does anyone know?
6 comments:
Sometimes in xray we use skull and crossbones as our "unofficial symbol". Is there any chance she could have been an xray tech and not a nurse. I'm not sure if xray technology was a true profession at that time especially for women. It would have only been about 30 years after the discovery of xray.
The skull and crossbones would make perfect sense if she became a nurse in some branch of the military.I'm not sure of the specific branch,but skull and crossbones is used by certain military personnel to identify which military entity they belong to, as opposed to an inference of poison.The S&C would have been added upon her entrance to such branch.If she never worked in a military hospital or became involved with anything military, I have no idea why it was engraved on the ring
PGH did not graduate any xray technicians until the early 1950s and I never saw a ring like this being an insignia of a radiographic technologist.
Way back before the Skull and Crossbones was used to signify death and poison, it represented the transience of Life and Rebirth. Alot of medical schools used this symbol in the earlier years. There are some that still do, the Medical School of Georgia for one. Most schools abandoned this symbol later on. My guess is the same with this class of '25, and they stopped using the symbol by '34. I would imagine this was the normal Grad. rings up to a certain date.
Thank you all for the wonderful and insightful comments. The sharing of knowledge benefits all of us. I learn so much from the input of the people who read my articles and add to them. Thank you for any additional information you may add. History will benefit from the additional information.
George
Thanks so much for inquiring about this. I have wondered for years about the skull and crossbones being on a nursing ring. I have my grandmothers nursing ring. She graduated in 1927 from Pitt Community Hospital in Greenville NC and it too has the skull and crossbone. I am gong to look more into the life and rebirth theroy.
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