Marjorie Brown Glaser, a walking encyclopedia of nursing history in Louisville and other parts of the state, has helped to produce another book about a vital and caring industry.

This one is straightforwardly called A Historical Review: St. Anthony Hospital School of Nursing, and it was authored by Glaser and three other graduates of the school — Sue Kapfhammer Allen, Pat Anderson and Sidney Campbell.

Glaser is a 1941 St. Anthony School of Nursing grad; her compatriots in the book project were all members of the class of 1958. The book is the third project of its kind to carry Margie Glaser’s name on its title page. She also authored The Giving of Self: A History of St. Joseph Infirmary School of Nursing and The History of Professional Nursing in Kentucky.

As you might suspect, Glaser’s career in the nursing profession has covered a lot of territory — the writing of books about the profession is something of a sideline. She was assistant director and director of the St. Joseph Infirmary nursing school; she’s been president of the Kentucky Nurses Association and executive director of the Kentucky Board of Nursing; and she’s taught nursing at Kentucky State University and served on the advisory boards for nursing education at Jefferson Community College and the University of Louisville.

That’s just scratching the surface. But Glaser, a remarkably vital 91, gregarious and outgoing about every topic but herself, insists that attention is to be paid to the St. Anthony Hospital School of Nursing story and not to her.

“Please don’t make this a profile of me,” she said sincerely. “We really want people to know about the book, because we’ve tried to capture the culture and the social mores of the time, and I think we’ve done that.”

They also want people to know about the marvelous chapel that’s available at the hospital, “and most people don’t know anything about it,” she said.

The chapel used by the hospital and the nursing school students throughout the years has remained open as the old St. Anthony Hospital has gone through its transformations into first Vencor and now Kindred Hospital.

“The chapel is beautiful — there’s a wonderful picture of it on the back cover of the book,” Glaser notes. “People should know that it’s available. You can have Mass there; you have to bring your own priest. But it’s a wonderful and beautiful chapel, and we hope that it will get put to a lot more use.”

The alumnae association is planning a special celebration to mark the chapel’s 100-year anniversary in June of 2011.

The introduction to the new book is quick to note that it represents an expansion of work first undertaken by Franciscan Sister M. Huberta Kiefer, director of the St. Anthony School of Nursing, who produced a first history of the school in 1969. That book was typewritten, and copies were mimeographed.

The 55-page book, published by the school’s alumnae association and printed by Merrick Printing Co. late last year, is a soft-cover, spiral-bound edition available through the association’s leadership. Books cost $12, plus $3 for shipping if they have to be mailed, and can be ordered from Clovie Brinkley Hayse, the association’s president, at 115 Rocky Meadows Road, N.W., New Salisbury, Ind. 47161. Or they can be ordered from the association’s co-president, Betty Welkman Padgett, 239 Redwood Drive, New Albany, Ind. 47150.

As for capturing the “culture” of the time — at least as seen by the school’s students — the book does a descriptive, facile job.

The handbook for students in the school’s earliest years, for instance, noted the discipline that was an accepted part of the future nurses’ lives.

“Before leaving the rooms for exercises each nurse must make her own bed, arrange the dresser and table, leaving them in good order and remembering not to leave any articles on the beds,” the book notes. “Dormitories may be inspected by visitors at any time during the day.”

Another portion described a typical breakfast. The school’s director was responsible for checking “each individual student for attendance and neatness of dress.”

“Then all assembled in the cafeteria for a five-minute grace prayer before a quick breakfast eaten in silence while listening to a spiritual reading,” he said. “Nurses will observe strict table etiquette. Other than good table manners will not be allowed.”

The school’s students were subjected to what Glaser calls “a horrendous rigidity” of daily life.

“Perhaps that’s too strong,” she said on reflection. “But they almost made us live like nuns.”

One of the stories from the 1960s that Glaser fondly recounted involved a fire alarm that occurred at the school on Barrett Avenue.

“None of the girls remembered what they were supposed to do in case of a fire,” Glaser recalled with a laugh. “Instead, they all ran to the windows because there were men coming. The firemen were coming, and they wanted to see them.”