ABSTRACT Objective: to identify evidence of nursing patterns of knowing disseminated by the Brazilian press before the implementation of Florence Nightingale’s model in Brazil and categorize topics of journalistic articles according to Carper’s and White’s patterns of knowing. Methods: categorical content analysis of materials related to Florence Nightingale, published in Brazil between 1850 and 1919, collected at Hemeroteca Digital. Four analysts identified themes of journalistic article, performing classification in patterns of knowing. Results: there was a predominance of evidence of the sociopolitical pattern followed by the empirical pattern. In the analyses per decade, ethical and aesthetic patterns showed predominance between 1860 and 1870, respectively. Conclusion: White’s classification by nursing patterns of knowing was useful in understanding precursor themes of professional/disciplinary knowledge that spread in Brazil, linked to Nightingale’s character, in addition to the repercussions of her actions and her expanded sociopolitical perspective.