ADOPT AN OBJECT

Adopt an Object

The Florence Nightingale Museum is pleased to announce our Adopt an Object scheme.

We have chosen some of our key objects for you to adopt either for yourself, as a gift for someone or on a corporate basis. Your donation will go directly towards looking after our fantastic collection. Your adoption will last for 12 months.

When you adopt an object from our collection you will receive:

A digital adoption pack, which includes a certificate, an image of your adopted object and an information sheet on the object.
A thank you video from our Collections Manager.
Your name will be added to the website by your object.

Please note that you will not receive the physical object and ownership of the object and any image copyright remains with the Board of the Trustees of the Florence Nightingale Museum.

Objects Available for Adoption

If you have another object that is not featured that you would like to adopt, please get in touch!

Athena the Owl

£120

Athena

This owl was rescued by Florence Nightingale while she was on holiday in Greece. Florence then decided to keep the owl as a pet, naming it Athena. Athena came home with Florence and spent a very comfortable few years as her pet. After the owl died, Florence’s family got it stuffed!

Nightingale’s Bodice & Skirt
£120

Bodice and Skirt

This black bodice and skirt belonged to Florence Nightingale. Dating from the 1870s, the dress is typical of the darker and plainer colours that Nightingale wore throughout her life.

Bust of Florence Nightingale
£120

Bust

This bronze bust of Nightingale was cast from a marble bust by A. Parlanti at the Artistic Foundry, London. The original marble bust was created by Sir John Steell. It is said that her family thought it to be the best likeness of her.

Writing Case

£120

Writing Desk

This painted writing case was presented to Florence Nightingale on her return from the Crimea by the inhabitants of Lea, Holloway and Crich in Derbyshire, 8 August 1856.

Fanoos Lamp

£120

Fanoos

A key part of Florence Nightingale’s legacy is the nickname she had, ‘Lady with the Lamp’. The traditional Turkish candle lamp listed here, known as a fanoos, is one of many which Nightingale used in the Scutari military hospital where she was stationed during the Crimean war.

Scutari Sash

£80

Scutari Sash

This sash was worn by one of the nurses that worked at Scutari Hospital, alongside Nightingale. Nightingale insisted that her nurses wore a uniform so that they were easily identifiable and to give them some protection while they were outside of the hospital.

Training School Dress

£80

NTS Dress

This uniform dates from the 1890s and was worn by probationer, Helena Riddick. The dress is made of mauve and white striped cotton and the mutton leg sleeves reflect the fashions of the decade.

Nurses Register

£80

Nurses Register

The Register of Nurses is a list of all the women who worked under Florence Nightingale at the British Military Hospitals during the Crimean War.

Heading the list is Nightingale herself, followed by the initial 38 nurses that went out with her. In total there are over 200 names on the list. The book lists their names, age, where they have been working and a reference.

Coxcomb Diagram

£80

Coxcomb

Florence Nightingale was a talented statistician and saw the power that a simple visual diagram could have. Her famous coxcomb diagram was in her report Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army. Nightingale became the first female member of the Royal Statistical Society in 1858.

Medicine Chest

£80

A square wooden box that is open, surrounded by small square glass bottles that have come from compartments seen in the top of the box.

This small mahogany medicine chest dates from the 1850s and was taken to the Crimean War. Inside are a variety of glass bottles that would have been filled with medicine and have been refilled and reused over the years.

Jimmy the Tortoise Shell

£40

Jimmy

Tortoise, Jimmy, was a ward pet at Scutari Hospital during the Crimean War. Nightingale understood the benefits that animals could have on those who were ill or injured, claiming that ‘a small pet is often as excellent companion for the sick’.

Writing Slate

£40

Writing Slate

Florence Nightingale used this writing slate for her lessons. It was gifted to her mother in 1830 when she was ten years old. Around the edge it is inscribed Florence Nightingale, from Mama, October 11 1830, Lea Hurst.

Hair Bracelet

£40

Bracelet

This bracelet is made of the hair of Nightingale’s family, her mother, father, sister and her favourite cousin, Shore Smith. They gave it to Florence just before she went off to the Crimean War.

Notes on Nursing

£40

Notes on Nursing

‘Notes on nursing: What it is and what it is not’ was published in 1859. This very early first edition has been inscribed by Nightingale, to her ‘Dear Beatrice’.

Herbarium

£40

Herbarium

Florence Nightingale was gifted this herbarium by Margaret Stovin. All of the flowers and plants in the herbarium were collected from the area around Lea Hurst, one of Nightingale’s childhood homes.

Kristin Buhnemann2025-04-01T09:26:38+00:00