Florence Nightingale Comes Home for 2020:an historico-literary analysis of her family life

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Although Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) is a familiar historical figure, most people do not know that her early years, and plentiful summers throughout her life, were spent in Derbyshire, where her family had built a home and held prominent business connections. It was also where Nightingale conducted a lot of her copious writing. Somewhat surprisingly, even scholarly works on Nightingale have spent comparatively little time analysing these regional influences on her professional and literary life and the way her East Midland's based friends, family and experiences contributed to the development of her attitudes and work. The filling of this knowledge gap sits at the heart of the project's aims. The overarching aim of which is to 'bring Florence Nightingale home' to the East Midlands and to find imaginative and engaging ways to use and celebrate this underappreciated story of regional success.The primary research focus of the project is to advance academic perspectives on Nightingale's regional connections in order to develop a more complete biographical understanding of this iconic figure. It is anticipated that this research thread will also yield important insights into the daily life of the important industrial valley in which the Nightingale family played such a prominent part. To fulfil the research aims of the project, dispersed sources, available both locally and throughout the country will be systematically mined for the first time for information about Nightingale's regional connections. This project will deliver pioneering research targeted at leading academic journals and resulting in an interdisciplinary edited collection. It will additionally advance early career capacity in Nightingale studies by employing two postdoctoral researchers and sponsoring two PhD students. Further to these academic objectives, the project will engage with local community members (particularly targeting nurses) to deepen regional identification with this important female leader. The project is perfectly timed to fit into the national cycle of events planned for 2020 celebrating the bicentenary of Nightingale's birth. Many obvious Nightingale stakeholders, for example the Nightingale Foundation, London and the Nightingale Museum, London will be actively engaged in these proceedings but, given Nightingale's importance in the East Midlands, it is important for the region to also play a prominent role in these celebrations. The project will add to events in London by highlighting the role Nightingale held regionally through three academic workshops, two public exhibitions (with accompanying talks and outreach events) and the provision of three discussion arenas specifically engaging with the nursing community. As Nottingham and Derby combine to make the largest regional hub for nurse training it seems a pertinent opportunity to explore new ways for Nightingale to stimulate a shared community identity; relating some of her obstacles and dilemmas to modern day issues faced by the nursing profession.The project has a particular interest in making Nightingale history visible and widely accessible via the web. A dedicated website (www.floem.org) will provide an outline history of Nightingale's local influences, and will showcase key documents and images pertinent to her time in the region. The site will also provide a cross referencing facility with other Nightingale collections as an aid to Nightingale scholars worldwide. As an user-friendly resource, the website will allow site visitors to follow the project's research in an engaging way. Finally, the website will advertise and promote Nightingale events whether they are conceived as part of, or outside of, this project.