KEEP 'EM FIGHTING

Complete catalog record
Duration: ~2:00+ | Format: Black & white, sound
A WWII-era promotional/fundraising film produced by the Henry Street Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY). The bold title card reads: "The Henry Street Visiting Nurse Service Presents: Keep 'Em Fighting." The film opens dramatically with footage of a bombed-out building — collapsed walls and rubble with a lone figure standing amidst the destruction — evoking the Blitz or wartime devastation to emphasize the need for home nursing. It then pivots to the nurses themselves: three smiling visiting nurses in their uniforms and hats are seen leaving a building with their medical bags. Subsequent scenes show the nurses at work in domestic settings — a nurse examining a seated elderly woman at home, and another nurse caring for a young child at a window. With 301 views, the film is a compelling document of American home healthcare on the WWII home front, showing how visiting nurses kept vulnerable civilians healthy so the country could sustain the war effort.

Sources

  1. 16mm Filmography (legacy record) — title, year, creator, catalog record, video