Indiana Historical Society - Manuscripts and Archives Department

PAULINE B. EANS
COLLECTION (1926-1981)

Collection #:
M 0405

Table of Contents

Collection Information
Historical Sketch
Scope and Content Note
Box and Folder Listing
Cataloging Information

Processed by:
Wilma L. Gibbs
23 March 1994

COLLECTION INFORMATION

Additional information about the project is contained in The Black Women in the Middle West Project: A Comprehensive Resource Guide, Illinois and Indiana, edited by Hine and Bidelman, et. al. and Wilma L. Gibbs's article "In Retrospect: The Black Women in the Middle West Project at the Indiana Historical Society," in Indiana's African-American Heritage: Essays from Black History News & Notes.

HISTORICAL SKETCH

Pauline Bryant Eans (21 March 1905--15 January 1981), the daughter of Samuel and Eugenia Thrasher Bryant, was born in Richards Chapel, Georgia. After attending public school in her native city, she went to Atlanta to attend Grady Hospital of Nursing and on to Clark College where she received a BA degree. She did graduate work at the University of Michigan, completing a Masters in Public Health Education and she began a doctoral program at New York University. The mother of two daughters, Robienetta Eans Driver and Gwendolyn Eans Thurman, she was married to Reverend Robert Henry Lee Eans.

During her early career, Pauline Eans was on faculty at Alabama A&M College and Lincoln University (Missouri). In 1955, she joined the Wishard Hospital School of Nursing faculty in Indianapolis, retiring in 1977.

While in Indianapolis she was active in several community organizations. She was founder of the Northwest Civic Association and was appointed to the Greater Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Corporation by Mayor Richard Lugar. She was also a member of Barnes United Methosist Church, United Methodist Women, Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, Sigma Theta Tau nursing sorority, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Council of Negro Women and the American Nurses Association.

Sources: Materials in the collection.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The Pauline B. Eans Collection consists of one box of material, mostly documenting the career of a teacher of nursing education. Eans completed early nursing training at the Grady Memorial Hospital and Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia. There are photographs (folder 2) and a 1926 memory book that commemorate her time at Grady and Clark. While a graduate student in public health education at the University of Michigan in 1945, Eans completed a summer field study at the Hartford (Connecticut) Tubercolosis and Public Health Society, Inc. As a health education assistant, she was assigned to the North End Health Club. Notes about her field work, along with correspondence and a summary and schedule are contained in folder 3. Folders 4 and 5 contain the rest of her correspondence, including several acknowledgments of her 1977 retirement from the Wishard Hospital School of Nursing. Many well-wishers were students, friends, former coworkers, and community leaders including Tom Binford (businessman), Mayor William Hudnut, III, Frank Johnson (director of Marion County Health and Hospital Corporation), and Senator Richard Lugar.

Eans's community efforts and her work as a nurse did not go unnoticed; commendations are in folder 7. There are also photographs of her and/or others at work and with family and friends (folders 8 and 9). Eans was a founder of the Northwest Civic Association, Incorporated; material about the organization is contained in folder 10. She was a member of Sigma Gamma Rho, a sorority founded at Butler University in 1922. A program booklet celebrating the 50th anniversary of the organization is in folder 11.

An undated list of sources (pamphlets, reports, posters, visual education materials, etc.) of free and inexpensive teaching materials is contained in folder 13. The list includes several organizations such as the American Heart Association, American Library Association, American Medical Association, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses. While on staff at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, Eans completed a five-year study of the institution's health services, a copy is contained in folder 14.

Eans died in 1981. Newspaper obituaries, a funeral program and a condolence letter to her daughter, Robienetta Driver, from Richard Lugar are in folder 15.

BOX AND FOLDER LISTING

BOX 1: Correspondence, Organizations, Publications and Obituaries

CATALOGING INFORMATION

For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:

1. Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog
2. Click on the "Local Catalog" icon.
3. Search for the collection by its call number, using the letter or letters designation and four digits (e.g., M 0715, SC 2234).
4. When you find the collection, go to the "Holdings" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.

END