The journal was established in 1900 as the official journal of the Associated Alumnae of Trained Nurses of the United States which later became the
American Nurses Association.
Isabel Hampton Robb,
Lavinia Dock,
Mary E. P. Davis and
Sophia Palmer are credited with founding the journal, the latter serving as the first editor. Other editors have included
Mary May Roberts (1921–1949),
Nell V. Beeby (1949–1956), Jeanette V. White (1956–1957), Edith P. Lewis (1957–1959), Barbara G. Schutt (1959–1971), Thelma M. Schorr (1971–1981), Mary B. Mallison (1981–1993), Lucille A. Joel (1993–1998), Diana J. Mason (1998–2009), Maureen S. Kennedy (2009–2022), and Carl Kirton (2022-present) The journal was originally published by
J. B. Lippincott & Co. In 1996,
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins purchased the journal from the association of which it ceased to be the official journal, to the disappointment of then editor Mason. ==Abstracting and indexing==