One of the most noted o early leaders was Isabelle Hampton Robb. She graduated from Bellevue Training School in New York in 1883. After an additional two years of nursing studies in Italy, she returned to the U.S. to become the nursing superintendent of the Illinois Training School for Nurses in Chicago. She proposed a curriculum that would combine classes and clinical experiences to various hospitals in the area. She suggested the students would have a broader view of nursing given the diversity of patient’s experiences they would encounter. As student advocate, Ms. Hampton was able to cut students' workdays to 10 hours. In 1889 Ms. Hampton was selected to serve as the superintendent of new Training School for nurses at Johns Hopkins.
In 1890 there were 432 training schools in the United States. Few agreed on the qualifications for entry, number and content of courses, and length of training needed. Ms. Hampton believed that nursing education should be governed by a set of standards arrived at by nurses themselves. She was concerned about nursing education in many of the hospital schools.
After her marriage to Dr. Robb, she left active nursing, as was the custom in that era. Nevertheless, she continued to be an active leader in nursing and was instrumental in forming the American Sociality of Superintendent of Training Schools for Nursing, which we know as the National League for Nurses. She became the first president of what would later become the American Nurses Association. She advocated university affiliation for nursing education. Mrs. Robb was one of the founders and financial supporters of the American Journal of Nursing first published in 1900.