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Dorothea Dix, 1802-1887
In 1861, Dorothea Dix was appointed superintendent of women nurses in Washington, DC, a title she would hold without salary for the next five years. On the brink of sixty, dour in temperament, and disciplined in her work, Dix was totally dedicated to her task. The qualifications she set were harsh even by the standards of her day: "All nurses are required to be plain looking women. Their dresses must be brown or black, with no bows, no curls, no jewelry, and no hoop-skirts." And she would consider no women under age thirty.
Dix worked throughout her life to improve conditions for the mentally ill. Her pioneering efforts established many institutions, such as St. Elizabeths in Washington, DC, the hospital that commissioned this portrait. |