The Cornell University School of Nursing was founded in 1877 as the New York Hospital Training School for Nurses, in New York City. As a part of New York Hospital, the school began its connection with Cornell University when Cornell's Medical College affiliated with New York Hospital in 1927. In 1932, the school moved to the joint campus on the upper east side of New York when both institutions co-located. The school became affiliated with Cornell and renamed as the Cornell University-New York Hospital School of Nursing in 1942.
The school awarded a Bachelor of Nursing degree after five years of study, two in an undergraduate college and three at the Medical Center.
Although officially a part of Cornell, the school remained financially independent of the University, with Cornell providing only the salary of the Dean. The rest of the funding came from state and federal sources, tuition, and the daily charges billed to patients staying in the New York Hospital. In the mid-1970s insurance companies started to refuse to reimburse nursing education expenses as a part of hospital charges and federal funding also declined. This led to the closing of the school in 1979.
A history of the school from 1877-1979 is found in Go, and Do Thou Likewise by Shirley H. Fondiller. The historical records of the School of Nursing are housed at the Medical Center Archives of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell