CHICAGO –
Members of a local Filipino-American historical society have launched a collection drive for items depicting the history of Filipino nurses in America. Organizers of an upcoming museum exhibit are appealing to nurses with Filipino ancestry and their families and friends to donate or lend items ranging from the academic to professional, cultural to lifestyle, with these “artifacts” evoking a sense of time and place, say exhibit organizers.
Tentatively titled “Unheard Voices of Care: Filipino Nurses in America,” the exhibit will open in May of 2026 at the International Museum of Surgical Sciences (IMSS) in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. It will then move to the Mana Contemporary, an artists’ warehouse on the city’s south side, the studio home of the Filipino American National Historical Society Greater Chicago Chapter (FANHSC).
“The history of Filipinos in health care here in the U.S. dates back over a century,” said Merle Salazar, a board member of FANHSC. “They helped shape the profession with their knowledge and cultural instincts, making nursing what it is today. This is an important exhibit that we hope will engage many within the Filipino-American community.”
Volunteers from FANHSC will expand upon a smaller exhibit about Filipino nurses that was on display at the Harold Washington Library in downtown Chicago last fall. The creator of that display is Angel Abcede, author of “House of Nurses: An American Journey,” which depicts the journey of his mother and aunts to America and their lives as nurses from the Philippines.
“In writing this book, I saw how my family became a part of American history,” Mr. Abcede says. “They were here when Pres. John F. Kennedy got shot. They watched Grace Kelley, Audrey Hepburn and Julie Andrews on the big screen. They smelled the weed from Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco. Many young Filipinos forget how intertwined with U.S. history our roots have become. This exhibit will help them remember and be proud of who they are as Americans.”
The initial nurses exhibit displayed one of the last white nursing uniforms, alongside one of the first versions of a “scrubs dress.” It also featured a conference badge that Mr. Abcede’s mother wore when she represented Guam at a nursing conference in the Philippines in 1969.
FANHSC was started as the 29th chapter of the Filipino American National Historical Society on June 30, 2012, to identify, gather, preserve, and promote the history and culture of the Filipino Americans in the Greater Chicago area. Exhibit organizers will gather artifacts at their studio at Mana Contemporary until the time comes to assemble the project at IMSS, organizers say.
In addition to FANHSC and Mr. Abcede, a third collaborating organization in the Filipino nurses’ effort is Circa Pintig, one of the country’s preeminent Filipino regional theater companies. Its roots trace back to the early 1980s when its founders, newly arrived from the Philippines, received support and inspiration from the immigrant communities of Chicago. Born from the experiences of political refugees and economic migrants, it embodies the resilience, creativity and communal spirit of immigrant communities.
The theater company will help develop and produce the numerous lectures and workshops that will occur during the exhibit’s run at IMSS. Ginger Leopoldo, a founding member of Circa Pintig, says a series of lectures, panels and performances will draw from stories behind the artifacts shared in the exhibit. “We hope to bring the project to life with actual nurses, actors, authors, and lecturers to help visitors engage with the collection and better understand the role Filipino nurses play in American history.”
Main contacts for the Filipino nurses’ exhibit include Ms. Salazar, representing the FANHSC; Ms. Leopoldo of Circa Pintig; and Mr. Abcede, who will act as the lead coordinator for the nurses’ exhibit. For more information or to participate, please contact any one of these individuals: Merle Salazar, Board Member, Filipino American National Historical Society Greater Chicago Chapter (FANHSC) at merlupcn75@yahoo.com; Ginger Leopoldo, Director,
Circa Pintig at ginger@circapintig.org; or Angel Abcede, author and FANHSC exhibit coordinator at angelchgo@gmail.com.
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