The American Association for the History of Nursing recently presented Arlene Keeling, the Centennial Distinguished Professor of Nursing at the University of Virginia, with its inaugural Mary Roberts Award for her book, “Nurses on the Front Lines: When Disaster Strikes, 1878-2010” (Springer Publishing Co., 2011).

Co-edited with Barbra Mann Wall, associate director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, the book describes what nurses might expect during disasters and outlines actions to take when disasters strike. It draws upon historical examples ranging from the 1878 yellow fever epidemic in Mississippi to the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub Fire in downtown Boston in 1942, and from the earthquake that devastated Alaska in 1964 to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Keeling, director of the Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry; U.Va. assistant professor of nursing Audrey Snyder; and John Kirchgessner, assistant director of the Bjoring Center, contributed chapters.

The award is named in honor of the first editor of the American Journal of Nursing.