Laying the cornerstone at nursing dormitory (1929).  
The CWRU Archives

Symbol of Sacrifice

Pin design adopted
after formation of the
University Nursing School.

In endowing the school of nursing, Bolton recognized that the university was embarking upon an experiment that might not succeed. Thus, she gave the endowment in the form of stocks to be held in trust for five years. After five years, when the school was granted permanent status as an independent professional school within the university, the university sold the stocks. At this time, because of the meteoric rise of the stock market during the 1920s, the original gift had grown from $3 million to $15 million. In hindsight, selling the stocks represented a brilliant financial move. Had the university waited another year, the stock market crash of 1929 might have precluded the school from ever existing.

The Bolton School pin, presented to all nurses who graduated from the School, has remained a consistent symbol of the values that its educators imprint upon their students.  This symbolism was best expressed by Frances Payne Bolton in a commencement speech given to the Class of 1931.   She said:  "These pins are small and unobtrusive but they are full of meaning.   They are the visible proof that there is, in the past of this School you are to represent, a heart large enough to sacrifice individually for a more perfect whole--a broadness of vision to see that most valuable of all traditions that a school can have is that of Courage to establish new traditions that do not necessarily abolish the old, but rather transmute them into finer expression.  And these pins are a symbol of your victory!" 

Throughout the years these pins remained one of the most treasured representations of a Bolton alumna.  In May 1973, the Bolton School put together a book of letters for Frances Payne Bolton in appreciation of her continuous support for the School over the decades.  During the celebration, they presented her with her own pin.  As Marion Moore Pritchard (who graduated in 1935--the first year that the School bore Bolton's name) wrote:  "You are already an honorary member of our alums, and with this pin, you will be an honorary graduate.  We know you have earned it many times over by your great contributions to nursing and our School."

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