Remembering Elizabeth Robinson Scovil, a Pioneering Nurse, Health Communicator and Women’s Advocate

Elizabeth Robinson Scovil (1849 -1934) was among the first to graduate from the Massachusetts General Hospital Training School for Nurses and is considered a pioneer for work as a writer and advocate for nurses, mothers and children.

Born in New Brunswick, Canada on April 30, 1849, Scovil came to Boston in 1878 to enter what was then known as the Boston School for Nurses. Her many articles written about nursing and published in various popular magazines and newspapers in 1879 and 1880 were the means of bringing in many applicants for training to the school.

After graduating in 1880, Scovil served as Superintendent of the Infirmary of St. Paul’s School for boys in Concord, New Hampshire. She also worked for six years as Superintendent and Instructor at Newport Hospital in Newport, Rhode Island.

She returned to Canada in 1903 to care for her nieces and nephews following the illness and death of her sister-in-law, where she continued to write books and articles on nursing, health care and child care until her death in 1934 at the age of 85.

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