N – Nurse 

This cap would tell how far along a nursing student was in their training. Trainee caps had 0-3 thin black ribbon bands around their base, one for each year of completed study. The three thin, black bands on this cap indicate this was a third year, or senior, nursing student. Once a student completed the program and graduated, they would be replaced by one thick band to indicate she was now a professionally trained nurse. 

The Boston Children’s Hospital School of Nursing started in 1889 by the Sisters of St. Margaret, who served as volunteer nurses to the hospital before the School of Nursing was formed. 

In 1930, the Gardner House (site of the patient and family parking garage now) opened across the street from the hospital and trained young women in the duties of nursing until it closed in 1978. It contained dorms, a chapel, library, classrooms and even had tennis courts.