Navy captain Winifred Quick Collins was commissioned as an ensign in the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) in August 1942, and in 1948 was in the first group of women commissioned in the United States Navy. In 1957 she was appointed Chief of Naval Personnel for Women, the most senior position for which women were eligible; she was the only woman line officer with the rank of captain. She retired in 1962 and was active in a number of organizations, including the National Navy League, in which she was the first woman elected vice president and director (1965).

Keene enlisted in the U.S. Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in December 1942, and in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) in August 1943. From September 1943 to May 1945, she was stationed in London, England, working for the secret intelligence and research and analysis branches of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Following Victory in Europe Day, Keene became secretary to the head of the OSS Research and Analysis Branch in the European Theatre of Operations and served in briefly in Paris, France, before being stationed in Germany, first in Biebrich and later in Berlin. She was demobilized in October 1945 and returned home to Seattle. The collection contains correspondence, diaries, photographs, a WAC uniform, and ephemera documenting Katherine Keene's service.

Elizabeth Reynard was assistant director of the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) during World War II. This collection includes correspondence, articles, reports, newsletters, manuals, photos, clippings, phonograph records, and other material reflecting Reynard's career in the Navy, including her assignments with the WAVES at WAVES training school, the Naval Training School, and on the U.S.S. Hunter. There is also information about WAVES personnel and organization regulations and about other units of military women in the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain. Some materials in this collection have been digitized and are available through the finding aid.

Warren served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), which later became the Women's Army Corps (WAC). She became a commissioned officer in 1942 and held the following positions before leaving the service in 1946: Commanding Officer of WAAC Operations Company, New York Air Defense Wing, First Fighter Command; Assistant Director of Training, WAC Training Centers; War Department Personnel Center, Camp Atterbury, Indiana; and Purchasing and Contracting Officer, Camp Atterbury. The collection includes clippings, orders, memos, training manuals, photographs, and printed material relating to her military service.

Medical anthropologist Hazel Marie Hitson Weidman joined the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) in 1943; she attended boot camp at the U.S. Naval Training School at Hunter College, Bronx, New York. After taking aptitude tests during boot camp, Weidman was sent to the Atlanta Naval Air Station to learn to instruct pilots in celestial navigation, which encompassed instrumental flight and radio navigation. During the war she served at several naval air bases including the New Orleans Naval Air Station and the Alameda and Livermore Naval Air Stations in California. Included in the collection are love letters received by Weidman during World War II, which offer glimpses into the lives of Navy and Army pilots during the war and the difficulties of maintaining long-distance romances during wartime.