This historical-social study aimed to understand the roots of the preinstitutionalization of Professional nursing in a given organizational field. We considered the origins of nursing in the political-social context of the First Republic, Second Republic, beginning of the Estado Novo and the interwar period. The study rests on institutional theory and Bourdieu's notion of field. As an institutional environment, the Hospital do Centenário was a demarcation point for the future organizational field of professional nursing. In the period from 1922 to 1938, an emerging organizational field was evidenced, in which the presence of Public Health and the State stand out. Public Health Visitants and Sanitary Educators appear as the forerunners for the professional bases of nursing. We observed the fight of agents involved in the formation of this field, creating and developing alliances and strategies.
Community Health Nursing; Community Health Nursing; Community Health Nursing