“Who Would Know Better Than the Girls in White?” Nurses as Experts in Postwar Magazine Advertising, 1945–1950

American advertising in the period immediately following the Second World War portrayed nurses as trusted advisers and capable professionals and frequently pictured them performing skilled work, including dispensing medicine and assisting in surgery. Advertisements published in a range of magazines whose target audiences varied by gender, race, age, and class show that nurses in postwar advertisements embodied two broad categories of representation: (a) medical authority, scientific progress, and hospital cleanliness; and (b) feminine expertise, especially in female and family health. Typically portrayed as young white women—although older nurses were occasionally depicted and black nurses appeared in advertisements intended for black audiences—nurses were especially prominent in advertisements for menstrual and beauty products, as well as products related to children’s health. Although previous scholarly examinations of nurses in postwar mass media have emphasized their portrayal as hypersexual and incompetent, this investigation posits postwar advertising as a forum that emphasized nurses’ professionalism, as well as complex expectations surrounding women’s professional and domestic roles.