The display included posters and exhibits from each of the NHS decades from the 1940s, up to and including content on the future of the NHS in Scotland, and nurse and midwifery education.
A continuously running video showed past and present nursing and midwifery staff and current students discussing their experiences.
Visitors posed in a photo booth with nursing hats and capes from the 1980s, and there was a mannequin in vintage midwifery uniform and other historical items of interest.
Academics led by lecturer Gillian Taylor put together the exhibition, which was opened by Professor Tracy Humphrey, Dean of Health & Social Care.
Professor Humphrey hailed the anniversary as a “momentous moment” for an institution that “touches us all”, and is “at the heart of what we do as a School”.
Although the launch of the NHS in 1948 was largely unheralded on newspaper front pages, “it’s core values – free access to healthcare regardless of the ability to pay – sit with all of us.”
She reflected on the enormous strides which had been taken against diseases like diphtheria and polio, and developments which ensure that very premature babies can now survive to adulthood.
Tea, coffee and cupcakes were on offer, with donations going to Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation NHS Charity.