The Women Veterans Historical Collection was created in 1998 to document the female experience in the United States Armed Forces. Brochures, publications, manuals and guides, postcards, ephemeral materials, sound recordings, and video recordings purchased by University Archives & Manuscripts on a continuing basis supplement and complement the individual veterans collections in the Women Veterans Historical Collection. This collection includes various types of printed materials dating from World War I to 2008. The majority is from the Women's Army Corps, Women's Air Force, WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service—Navy), Coast Guard SPARS, Women Marines, Army Nurse Corps, Navy Nurse Corps, American Red Cross, and the Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II. Documents pertaining to civil service, women in industry, and the home front are also included.
Materials donated by veterans or purchased by University Archives beginning in 1998 and continuing through the present time.
Series are organized according to format. Subseries designations reflect an arrangement according to branch of service. Each branch retains the same subseries number throughout the collection.
Additional printed material may also be found in the individual veterans collections. Researchers should consult the finding aids to those collections for additional examples of recruiting materials, manuals and guides, printed material, postcards, and ephemeral materials.
The Women Veterans Historical Collection is the result of a project intended to document the female experience in the armed forces through letters, papers, photographs, published materials, uniforms, medals and oral histories. Additional printed materials have been purchased by University Archives to supplement those donated by individual veterans. The bulk of the collection focuses on World War II, but it also contains materials dating from the 1950s to 2008.
The Women Veterans Historical Collection was created in 1998 to document the female experience in the United States Armed Forces. Brochures, publications, manuals and guides, postcards, ephemeral materials, sound recordings, and video recordings purchased by University Archives & Manuscripts on a continuing basis supplement and complement the individual veterans collections in the Women Veterans Historical Collection. This collection includes various types of printed materials dating from World War I to 2008. The majority is from the Women's Army Corps, Women's Air Force, WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service—Navy), Coast Guard SPARS, Women Marines, Army Nurse Corps, Navy Nurse Corps, American Red Cross, and Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II. Documents pertaining to civil service, women in industry, and the home front are also included.
The collection contains the following series.
Black-and-white and color recruiting brochures and booklets for various branches of the military as well as the Red Cross and civil service document the benefits and opportunities of serving in the armed forces. Many pieces also detail qualification requirements, training programs, recreation information, and financial assistance.
Booklets, articles, newsletters, bulletins, and magazines that pertain to women in the armed forces. Booklets include items such as souvenir programs from training schools, memoirs, and brief histories of units or branches, such as the women Marines. Red Cross booklets include an annual report and a history of women's work during World War I. Articles written in the late twentieth century trace the history of women's uniforms in the Women's Army Corps and the Red Cross, while prints from a book depict the history of Navy uniforms. Newsletters and bulletins or magazines consist of single or several issues of publications such as Liberty, various WAVES newsletters, the American Women's Voluntary Services bulletin, Army Life, Saturday Evening Post, and Red Cross Magazine. Included under general services are several issues of the Women's Memorial newsletter, the Register. Also included is a 1970s guide for commanders and supervisors of women in the army.
Consists of manuals and guides used primarily by various branches during basic and field training, officer training to ease the transition from civilian to military life. Most items provide information on branch history, regulations, customs, and procedures. Some guides are for a particular branch of service, while others are for specific camps or training centers such as Camp Davis in Wilmington, North Carolina, and the Marine facilities on Parris Island, South Carolina. Also included is a brochure on veterans' benefits.
Primarily contains undated, late-twentieth-century reproductions of World War II recruiting posters. Postcards dating from the 1940s depict Women's Army Corps training centers in Fort Des Moines, Iowa; Daytona Beach, Florida; and Chattanooga, Tennessee; and women Marines' barracks at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Materials such as window stickers, special envelopes, sheet music of service songs and songs associated with women in the military, fans, and menus, commemorative Rosies book issued by Ford Motor Company in 2004, and programs for military dinners and events. Also includes items related to women in the armed forces such as movie posters for Tars and Spars and Never WAVE at a WAC, a print of the U.S. Military Women's Quilt, a General Motors advertisement; and a coloring book. Included under general services are special edition calendars issued by the Women's Memorial in the late 1990s and 2000.
Thirteen black-and-white U.S. Army official signal corps photographs of the Third WAC Training Center at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and of Fort Des Moines, Iowa, depict various training activities, including physical training, care and use of gas masks, and motor transport school. Also includes black-and-white photograph souvenir books from training at Hunter College, New York (WAVES), Fort Oglethorpe, (WAC), and Daytona Beach, Florida (WAC).
Commercially recorded 78 rpm records of music popular during the 1940s.
Video recordings that pertain to women in the military. Includes a documentary about women who served during World War II, a movie about WAC, and a presentation by Shoshanna Johnson, ex-prisoner of war from the second Gulf war.
