A Norwich University English professor has received funding from a national nursing organization for the development of a book. The American Association for the History of Nursing, Inc. awarded Lea Williams a research grant for a biography that explores the life of nurse, writer and activist Ellen N. La Motte (1873-1961).
Williams’ biography will explore La Motte’s life and how her devotion to public health causes shaped her involvement in the anti-tuberculosis campaign, the vote for women, and the anti-opium crusade.
“It is an honor to receive support from an organization outside my field because in a way it proves the value of the work I am pursuing,” Williams said.
La Motte graduated from the Johns Hopkins Training School for Nurses in 1902 and worked as a tuberculosis nurse from 1905-1913. During those years, she earned a national reputation as a campaigner against the disease and often published and gave talks on the best approaches to tuberculosis prevention. By 1910, La Motte was also involved in the fight for the vote from women, giving talks and marching in suffrage parades. During World War I, La Motte worked in a French field hospital from 1915-1916 and wrote “The Backwash of War,” a collection of stories about nursing the wounded. She left France in 1916 and traveled throughout Asia for a year; it was during this time period she became involved in the anti-opium campaign, an effort that would occupy her attention for the next several decades. She wrote frequently about the devastation of the opium trade in widely circulated magazines such as “The Nation” and published several books on the topic.
Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army and is the oldest private military college in the United States of America. Norwich is one of our nation's six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.