ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202

EVA NELSON PAPERS

COLLECTION : OGL#1385

DATES: 1884-1982

SIZE: 1.5 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

ACQUISITION: The Eva Nelson Papers were deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection by Patricia Mattson on June 17, 1999 (Acc.# 99-2319) and Joyce Mattson on June 22, 2000 (Acc.#2000-2457). Joyce Mattson was Eva's niece, while Patricia Mattson is Joyce's daughter-in-law.

ACCESS: Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Department of Special Collections.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Eva Nelson was born four miles southwest of Hallock, Minnesota (Kittson County), on June 29, 1884, to Henrik and Sella (Olson) Nelson. She had one younger brother, Cornelius (1887-1983), and one younger sister, Otellia (1889-1919). The family farmed southwest of Hallock, where Eva attended school.

In 1901, Eva began teaching. She taught for many years in several Tine Township, Kittson County schools, until 1921, when she received her teachers’ pension. She then moved to Turlock, California, where she began her second career. Eva then enrolled in the Emmanuel Hospital Nursing School, from which she graduated in November 1923. In 1924, she became the Hospital Director and Supervisor of Nurses at the Emmanuel Hospital. She also served at the Mission Covenant Church Hospital and in private practice until her retirement, sometime around 1957. In 1970 or 1971, she moved into the Brandel Manor Nursing Home, in Turlock.

Eva Nelson died on October 5, 1974 in Turlock, California.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Eva Nelson Papers consist primarily of eighteen diaries. The diaries are dated from 1904- 1969. The diaries contain quotations, songs, historical facts, and information about Eva Nelson's everyday life. Topics covered in her diaries include the weather, finances, birthdays, school, church, friends, family and current events. Also included is a copy of her birth certificate, correspondence, a composition book, copies of her obituary and a book entitled "Emanuel Medical Center: 65 years of Caring 1917-1982." The material dates from 1884-1982.

BOX AND FOLDER INVENTORY

Box 1
Folder

1. Copy of Birth Certificate: 1884
2. Quotations by Eva Nelson: September 24, 1896
3. Composition Book (1899-1901)
4. Diary March 9,1904-June 18, 1905
5. The School Year 1914-1915
6. Diary July 1, 1915- April 25, 1917
7. Diary April 27, 1917-November 14, 1918
8. Diary November 15, 1918-August 17, 1919
9. Diary September 7, 1919-March 7, 1920
10. Diary July 1, 1921-December 25, 1921
11. Diary 1924-1928
12. Diary 1929-1933
13. Diary 1934-1938
14. Diary 1939-1943
15. Diary 1944
16. Diary 1945-1949
17. Diary 1950-1954
18. Diary 1955-1959
19. Diary 1960-1964
20. Diary 1965-1969

Box 2
Folder

1. Correspondence from Eva (1910, 1911, 1918, 1964)
2. Correspondence regarding Eva Nelson: 2000
3. Obituaries of Eva Nelson
4. "Emanuel Medical Center: 65 years of Caring 1917-1982"

SEPARATIONS RECORD

15 photos were separated and placed in the Orin G. Libby Photograph Collection

1. Nelson Family: Eva, Cornelius, Henrik, Sella, Othelia (1896)
2. Eva Nelson (1898)
3. Eva Nelson (undated)
4. Eva Nelson (undated: high school graduation)
5. Eva and unidentified woman (maybe cousin) (1906)
6. Eva and Sella Nelson (1909)
7. Eva Nelson (1916)
8. Eva Nelson and unidentified woman (undated)
9. Eva Nelson (undated: taken in Turlock, California)
10. Eva Nelson (1923)
11. Eva Nelson and John Erickson (undated)
12. Eva Nelson (1939)
13. Eva Nelson and Martha Swords (undated)
14. Eva Nelson (1954)
15. Eva Nelson (1974)

Return to: Medicine
Return to: Women's Papers