Martha Montague Russell (September 28, 1867 - July 16, 1961) was an American nurse in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. She was one of the first six American nurses to receive the

Florence Nightingale Medal The Florence Nightingale Medal is an international award presented to those distinguished in nursing and named after British nurse Florence Nightingale. The medal was established in 1912 by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), f ...

when it was awarded by the

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...

in 1920.

Early life

Martha Montague Russell was from

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

. She graduated from

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

, and graduated from training at the New York Hospital School for Nurses in 1894.''History of American Red Cross Nursing''
(Macmillan 1922): 379, 540-541, 544-545.Nelson McDowell Shepard
"The Florence Nightingale Medal"
''Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine'' (November 1921): 644-645.

Career

Russell was superintendent of nurses at hospitals in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, New York,

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, and

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

. She also worked for a time at the

Henry Street Settlement The Henry Street Settlement is a not-for-profit social service agency in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that provides social services, arts programs and health care services to New Yorkers of all ages. It was founde ...

. She was superintendent of nurses at Sloane Maternity Hospital in New York for twelve years before she joined the war work of the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

. Russell was a member of the New York Hospital Unit at U. S. Army Base Hospital No. 9. In 1917, she was selected by

Jane Delano Jane Arminda Delano (March 12, 1862 in Montour Falls, New York – April 15, 1919 in Savenay, Loire-Atlantique, France) was a nurse and founder of the American Red Cross Nursing Service. Personal life A descendant of one of the first settlers to ...

as Chief Nurse of the American Red Cross Commission in France, to supervise

nurses working in France during World War I. She was one of the first six American nurses to receive the

in 1920. After the war, Russell was superintendent of

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

Hospital School of Nursing in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

,"University of Colorado Hospital and University of Colorado Training School for Nurses"
''Catalogue of the University of Colorado" (1921-1922): 304. and was involved in leadership roles in the National League of Nursing Education. In 1930 she was superintendent of the municipal hospitals in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.American Journal of Nursing The ''American Journal of Nursing'' (AJN) is a monthly peer-reviewed nursing journal established in 1900. the editor-in-chief was Maureen Shawn Kennedy and it is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. In 2009 the journal was selected as one o ...

'', including "Fads: Their Value to Nurses" (1902), "What Social Insurance Will Mean to Nurses" (1917), and "Prevention of Bed Sores" (1930).

Legacy

A loan fund was established in the name of Martha M. Russell by the University of Colorado Nursing School Alumnae Association."Establishing Loan Fund"
''Biennial Report of the Regents of the University of Colorado'' (1928-1930): 43.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Martha M. 1867 births 1961 deaths American nurses American women nurses Mount Holyoke College alumni American women in World War I University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus faculty Florence Nightingale Medal recipients