The trained nurse and the midwife. 1934.

Editor's note: From its first issue in 1900 through to the present day, AJN has unparalleled archives detailing nurses' work and lives over the last century. These articles not only chronicle nursing's growth as a profession within the context of the events of the day, but they also reveal prevailing societal attitudes about women, health care, and human rights. Today's nursing school curricula rarely include nursing's history, but it's a history worth knowing. To this end, From the AJN Archives will be a frequent column, containing articles selected to fit today's topics and times. This month's article, from the May 1934 issue, stresses that "there is no branch of medicine in which the nurse participates to such an important degree as in obstetrics." Over 70 years later, this idea is echoed in this month's photo-essay, "Birthplace: A Model of Collaborative Care at Baystate Franklin Medical Center."