Commemorating nursing: an exercise in historical imagination.

From the early 1900s, New Zealand nurses joined an international tradition of commemorating nurses and significant nursing events by establishing memorials. These were acts of 'historical imagination'. This article proposes that nurses have erected four kinds of memorial 'stones' on their professional landscape: 'scratchstones' (simple markers of identity), touchstones (tangible links to nurses in the past), boundary stones (markers of exemplary service or extreme sacrifice) and milestones (markers of the past which guide professional direction). The article also argues that nursing memorials serve five functions: they perpetuate memory, honour, inspire emulation, shape professional identity and demonstrate the profession's worthiness. The article also explores the tensions surrounding memorials and finally considers their durability and place in the profession's present and future.