The papers document the career of Yale School of Nursing professor, Nurse-Midwifery Specialty, Helen Varney Burst. The bulk of the materials are evenly divided between speeches given by Varney Burst, 1970-2015, mainly on the history or future of midwifery, and material documenting her work on the Special Commission on Infant Health in New Haven, primarily 1987-1995. There are also small amounts of material on other aspects of nurse-midwifery and Varney Burst's career.