These files represent an almost complete official record of the Clinical Excellence Committee, the Task Forces, and their subcommittees. The minutes are complete, with only one exception. There are few interim reports or correspondence among the coordinators, the chairmen of the committees, and members. The final report is contained in Box 2, folder 1.

Some of the minutes have notes made by Dr. Thomas Chalmers, President and Dean of The Mount Sinai Medical Center and School of Medicine. The files probably came from that office, although, aside from these few notes, they are generic.

This is a recording of the oral history of Slyvia Barker, MA, RN, CNNA conducted by Richard Steele, in a series of five visits, spanning from November 8th, 1995 to December 19th, 1995.

Tape 1 discusses Ms. Barker’s background and the beginning of her 60-year career at Mount Sinai, including her hometown, her first days at the School of Nursing, and what her friends would do for fun in their free hours. She shared anecdotes about doctors, as well as the two Heads of Nursing Miss Greener and Miss Warman. She goes on to describe how she became Head Nurse of Ward U and an instructor at the School of Nursing, and also discusses her two-year stint at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago.

In Tape 2, she comments on the significance of nursing residences in creating a community for nurses. She talks about her close friend Blanche Gubersky; the demographics of the community Mount Sinai served in the 1940s; the courses and programs of the time; Mrs. Cynthia Kinsella and the closure of the Nursing School. She goes on to discuss risk management, personnel management, her relationship with Gail Weissman, and the unionization of Mount Sinai Hospital through Local 1199 and the State Nurses Association.

In Tape 3, Ms. Barker outlines the milestones in Gail Weissman’s tenure and the Alumni Association including its bookkeeper, “The Oaks” (the nurses’ residence in New Rochelle, New York) and their relationship to the Archives at Mount Sinai.

In Tape 4, she discusses the changes she has observed in nursing practices at Mount Sinai including: length of stay; technologies in nurseries; stethoscopes; intra-muscular injections; administration of oxygen; nurse practitioners; diagnostic procedures; procedure books and manuals; teaching techniques in nursing education; and resurgences of historical remedies.

In tape 5, she talks about Drs. A. A. Berg, Bela Shick, and Richard Lewisohn; group nursing; semi-private and private care; Jack Martin Poliorespirator Center and Dr. Horace Hodes; changes in the workday and work schedules; and finally, changes in staff demographics, including men in nursing and the first Black nurses at Mount Sinai.

Collection consists of posters, flyers, and other ephemera from the January, 2023 New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) strike at Mount Sinai Hospital that began on 2023-01-09 and ended 2023-01-12.

This is an incomplete collection of records and does not portray the scope of the responsibilities encompassed by the Director’s Office.

• https://www.supportingournurses.com/
• This website documents the collective bargaining sessions from the perspective of the Mount Sinai Health System leading up to and during the 2023 nursing strike at the Mount Sinai Hospital. It also includes bargaining rationale for Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West. The New York Nurses Association struck for improved pay, better staff retention, and safer nurse-to-patient staffing ratios. Much of the site's content was taken down after the conclusion of the strike, but the versions archived prior to January 12, 2023 are complete.