Socio-historical and qualitative study aiming to rescue the establishment process of the Regional Nursing Council of Santa Catarina and characterize its importance to the profession. It presents its theoretical support on the ideas of Eliot Freidson and New History. In the method, oral history and documentary research were used, involving eight nurses who implemented the representative organization in the referred time frame. The principles of Content Analysis guided data analysis, which were organized according to the mandates of the Regional Nursing Council of Santa Catarina from 1975 to 1986. During the implantation of the professional Council, there was a fragile notion about the objectives of the council and a slow supervision process. It is concluded that the importance of the establishment of the profession Council was known by the leaders and little understood by all professionals in the state.
Nursing; Sociology; History of nursing; Social organization