BUMED Collection Expands Navy Medicine Story at NMHM

Kenya Baylor, Public Affairs Coordinator | May 7, 2026 |

Group photograph of the first twenty U.S. Navy nurses, appointed in 1908. Taken at the Naval Hospital, Washington, D.C., circa October 1908. (Image courtesy of Navy History and Heritage Command).

When the National Museum of Health and Medicine received a large collection of objects and archival materials from the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in the summer of 2017, it opened the door for us to share a fuller story of Navy medicine — not only through artifacts like medical equipment and surgical kits, but also through the people who shaped it. One of the uniforms in the collection reminds us of the history of the Sacred Twenty, the first nurses appointed into the U.S. Navy, and their role in the beginnings of modern Navy medicine.

reproduction of U.S. Navy nurse uniform, circa 1910

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A reproduction uniform, circa 1910, of a nurse with the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps female division, trained to serve in hospitals or on hospital ships. The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery selected its first group of 20 nurses—known as "the Sacred Twenty," in November 1908. (NMHM 2024.0023.294)

The Navy Nurse Corps began in 1908 after Congress saw the need for a permanent group of trained nurses to care for sailors and Marines. At the time, the Army Nurse Corps had been established, and BUMED pushed for the Navy to have one, too. That year, 20 women were chosen to serve. They became known as the Sacred Twenty. Under the leadership of Esther Voorhees Hasson, the first superintendent of the Corps, the nurses reported aboard between August and October 1908. They completed an indoctrination period at the Naval Hospital in Washington, D.C., before being assigned to naval hospitals across the country and overseas, where each helped establish the Navy's first clinical nursing programs.

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Esther Voorhees Hasson, first superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps, from Aug.18, 1908 to Jan.10, 1911 (Image courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, 80-G-1037199)

The Sacred Twenty broke new ground for women in military service and helped professionalize Navy medicine. They cared for patients when the nation was not at war and during major health emergencies like the 1918 influenza pandemic. They also played an important role in training new nurses. Their service reached beyond the United States, as they traveled to Guam, Samoa and the Philippines to build nursing programs and improve health care in Navy medical hospitals. Their success showed how important Navy nurses were and helped the Nurse Corps grow.

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Interior of an isolation ward at the naval hospital at Naval Training Camp, Gulfport, Mississippi, during the influenza epidemic, circa 1918. (Image Courtesy of the Navy History and Heritage Command, NH 116532)

Over time, Navy nurses took on bigger roles. During World War II, thousands of nurses served in hospitals and combat areas around the world. In 1944, they were granted officer status, and three years later, in 1947, the Nurse Corps became an official staff corps in the Navy. Their uniforms also changed to reflect their new responsibilities. Today, Navy nurses work around the world wearing scrubs and protective gear used in modern medical care.

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Navy recruiting poster, unknown artist, circa 1965. (Image courtesy of the Navy History and Heritage Command, 69-274-S)

Through the BUMED collection, NMHM shares stories of Navy medicine. It honors the Sacred Twenty and shows how their service helped shape the Navy Nurse Corps and military health care. Today, Navy nurses carry on that legacy by caring for service members around the world. By preserving and documenting these stories, NMHM highlights how military medicine supports warfighter medical readiness.