Aline Jeannette (Vier) Shrum Papers

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
160 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Brenda Gunn
Phone: (434) 924-1037
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968

Summary

Extent:
0.5 Linear Feet 1 box, plus artifacts
Abstract:
(1924–2012) Colonial studies. Keepsakes from UK citizen Aline Shrum's early career as a nurse (1946-1958) in South Africa and Brazil: official documents and correspondence, publications from Guy's Hospital, London, from which she was a nursing graduate. Significant photograph collection includes native African patients at Grey's Hospital, Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

This small collection contains material from Aline Jeanette (Vier) Shrum's early professional career as a nurse, 1946–1958. Ms. Shrum worked principally at sites overseas from her native London: South Africa and Brazil. Official documents and correspondence record her trajectory and assignments, including immunization and health certification records, tax documents from the authorities in South Africa, and rules for nurses (promulgated by the General Nursing Council for England and Wales in 1924 and 1931). A number of publications from Guy's Hospital, London, give history, news, and medical information for the Hospital's nurse graduate. Of particular interest is a photograph album showing native African patients at Grey's Hospital, Pietermaritzburg, in the province of Natal, South Africa. The Shrum Collection also includes four metal boxes outfitted for travel; three of these contain medical supplies and equipment, not yet inventoried.

Biographical / historical:

Aline Jeanette (Vier) Shrum (1924-2012) was a native of London, England. She entered the nurse training program at Guy's Hospital, London, in 1943, graduating in 1947. Vier subsequently traveled to the Natal province of South Africa – now Kwa-Zulu-Natal – where she practiced nursing at Grey's Hospital, Pietermaritzburg, until 1951. After a brief interlude back in England, Vier returned to South Africa, where she worked as a nursing sister at the Florence Nightingale Private Hospital, in Johannesburg, until 1954. She returned again to England for a little more than a year, then sailed for Rio de Janerio, Brazil, where she found employment at the Strangers' Hospital, remaining there until March 1957. In autumn that year, she began work at the Chelsea Hospital for Women, staying at this London hospital until the end of 1958. Vier married Calvin Shrum the next year, and for two decades the couple lived in France, Greece, and Iran. They retired to Scottsville, Virginia after residing in a number of other locations in the United States.

Arrangement:

The Aline Jeanette (Vier) Shrum Collection is organized alphabetically by general subject heading, followed by the artifacts. Folder contents are chronological.