Barbour was a telephone operator with the U. S. Army Signal Corps in France during World War I and worked for AT&T before and after the war. This collection includes photographs and mementos of the Signal Corps and correspondence to and from friends who were part of the Signal Corps.

Jane Barton attended officer training for the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) at Mount Holyoke College with the first class of officers to receive midshipman training there. She was stationed in Washington, D.C., where she coordinated housing for WAVES officers and oversaw public relations for the Potomac River Naval Command and the U.S. Naval Barracks. She was editor of two newsletters for WAVES personnel, The Havelock and Scuttlebutt, and in 1947 initiated the first reunion of WAVES personnel. She served in the U.S. Naval Reserve until 1968, where she trained women recruits and oversaw public relations in the Albany, New York, area. During her service with the Navy, Barton rose in rank from an ensign to a commander.

Mary (Wolfowitz) Blumen was born in Brooklyn, New York, and worked as a nurse in the emergency room at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. She joined the Army in November 1942 and served at the 1st General Hospital in North Mymms, near London, and in France following D-Day. She left the Army in 1946. This collection includes photographs of Blumen and friends and colleagues, as well as interiors and exteriors of 1st General Hospital in England and France; her Army records and details of her service; and newsletters about and address lists of 1st General Hospital staff.

Ruth P. Boehner, a teacher from Webster, Mass., enlisted in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) in 1943. This collection consists of a typed letter from Boehner describing her first months in the WAC as well as a note regarding Boehner's subsequent career.

Borden served in France with the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during World War I. A resident of Sheffield, Pennsylvania, Borden reported for duty at Camp Dix, New Jersey, in July 1918, and worked in hospitals in Angers and Vannes between November 1918 and June 1919.

Brown was born in Washington, D.C., and educated at George Washington University (AB 1924, LLB 1932, SJD 1942). She was a lawyer in the solicitor's office of the Veterans' Administration (1931-1941) before entering the Women's Army Corps (WAC), where she was on active duty for four years and promoted to lieutenant colonel. She served as executive officer to Col. Oveta Culp Hobby, Director of the WAC, and as acting director in her absence. Brown retired in 1959.

Nona Baldwin Brown received an advanced degree in journalism from Columbia University (M.S. 1940) and was immediately hired by The New York Times. Brown temporarily left her job and joined the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) in the United States Naval Reserve, serving from 1942 to 1945 as a public relations press officer. In 1944, when she married Clinton Bleecker Duma Brown in New York City, both wore their military uniforms. Brown left the WAVES and returned to The New York Times Washington Bureau in 1945.

Julia Child, cookbook writer, cookery teacher, and TV personality, was born Julia Carolyn McWilliams in Pasadena, California. She graduated from Smith College in 1934, then worked in public relations in New York City (1934-1941) and served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS, 1941-1946). She was stationed in Ceylon, where she met her future husband, Paul Child, and in China. This collection contains correspondence between the Childs; Paul's life-long correspondence with his twin brother Charles that chronicles the lives of Paul and Julia in the OSS, USIA, and the international world of cookery; and Paul's correspondence with friends. Julia often wrote separate letters to Charles’ wife Freddie. Letters written during World War II discuss Paul's work in India (1944), Sri Lanka (1944), and China (1945). See also Additional Papers of Julia Child (MC 660) for government service records including copies of her personnel files from the Office of Strategic Services held by the National Archives as well as original travel orders regarding her reassignment to China. Also included is a letter mentioning her Emblem for Civilian Service award (see #4.3m). For additional information regarding Child's government service see her Foreign Service Spouse Oral History (#68.26) and her interview with Katherine Breaks regarding her service for the Office of Strategic Services (#67.7).

Corporal Bertha Strittmatter enlisted in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC), later known as the Women's Army Corp (WAC). She was stationed at Stout Field, Indianapolis, Indiana, from the beginning of World War II until the German surrender. Strittmatter was a columnist for Wactivities and the Fielder. This collection consists of her manuscript of When WAC Was a Dirty Word, an account of her experiences as a WAC. Anecdotes illustrate unfavorable attitudes toward WACs, problems they encountered in their personal and work lives, and how sentiments changed with increasing recognition of their contributions to the war effort.

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).

Comstock was the first dean of Smith College as well as president of Radcliffe College (1923-1943). She was a supporter of the WAVES and was dean of Smith while the college was a WAVES officer training center. This collection includes photographs and publications pertaining to the WAVES.

Etienne was an African American member of the Women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. Originally from New Roads, Louisiana, she enlisted in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in Houston, Texas, on December 17, 1942, when she was 21 years old. She trained at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, and worked as a baker for the 1550th Station Complement at the WAC facility at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Closed until processed.
Writer and poet Janice Ann Farringer received her BA from Vanderbilt University and her JD from the University of Memphis. She served in the U.S. Army as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) Captain (1977-1980) and conducted interviews with women who served in the U.S. Armed Services between 1976 and 1983. This collection consists of transcripts and CDs of the interviews. The collection also includes biographical information regarding some of the interviewees, release forms, and printed material about women veterans.

A specialist in personnel management, Fields spent 27 years in the federal government. In 1967 she was appointed a special assistant in the Federal Women's Program of the Veterans' Administration and charged with developing and recommending policies in all areas of personnel management relating to the status of women. After her retirement in 1971, she founded Fields Associates, a consulting firm dealing with equal employment opportunity and career planning for women.

Vivian M. Gammons (formerly Vivian M. Okerfelt) lived in Quincy, Massachusetts, and joined the Women's Army Corps (WAC) in 1943. She served in France and was promoted to sergeant. The collection consists of a wooden WAC box with Okerfelt's name and identification number stenciled on it; letters to her, mostly from her boyfriend Joseph Wisnowski, a soldier stationed in the Pacific; one letter to her parents; photographs; Army documents; maps and pamphlets; a song sheet, “Jumpin' to the Jukebox”; a small flag; and other personal materials.

Marjorie B. Healey was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Healey of Wollaston (and later Weymouth), Massachusetts. She served in Europe during World War II with the Army as a dietitian. The collection consists of letters, mostly to her parents, during Healey's service abroad.

An expert on labor mediation and welfare services, Hoffman served on the War Manpower Commission and in the Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services during World War II. In the postwar period, she consulted for the National Security Resources Board, Bureau of Employment Security, and War Mobilization and Reconversion Advisory Board. She also served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Personnel under George Marshall (1950-1953), the highest post ever held by a woman in the defense establishment, and in Sept. 1951 she chaired the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.

Navy captain Grace Brewster Murray Hopper is the inventor of COBOL, a computer language, and helped program the first large-scale digital computer, Mark I. She also worked with Mark II and Mark III computers. This collection consists of videotape and typed transcripts of three interviews for the 60 Minutes television program.

Harriet R. Hulett joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in 1942 and was sent to Des Moines, Iowa, and Nacogdoches, Texas, for training. This collection consists of a (disassembled) scrapbook documenting Hulett's experience in the WAAC in Iowa and Texas. It includes WAAC brochures and memoranda, programs, photographs, postcards, and clippings.

Marjorie Y. (MacNair) Ingram was from Houlton, Maine, and was living in Washington, D.C., when she enlisted in the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) during World War II. She received her basic training at Hunter College in New York City. This collection consists of an album containing photographs and postcards.

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.

Lee served with the American Red Cross as a secretary, eventually joining the staff of Base Hospital Number 6 (Massachusetts General Hospital Unit) of the American Expeditionary Forces in France, outside Bordeaux. She transferred to the American Air Service in Paris in 1918 and in the fall of that same year joined the American YMCA as a canteen worker in the Zone of Advance at the First Air Depot at Colombey-les-Belles, near Toul. After returning home, she wrote a book about her World War I experiences. The book, completed in 1927, was initially titled The Farce. After it was rejected by numerous publishers, she eventually changed the title to It’s a Great War! and entered it in a best war novel competition.

Florence Julie Belson graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of South Dakota with a degree in English in 1941. She joined the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) and took a teaching job while waiting to be called to active duty. In 1942, she married Don Lillibridge. After arriving for duty in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1943, Florence was discharged for being pregnant. While Don was serving in the Marine Corps, Florence returned to South Dakota to teach in the English department at the University of South Dakota. Of note are letters describing separation and uncertainty during World War II and impressions of Paris and London soon after the war, when Don was doing his dissertation research.

McBride was an African American woman who served in the Women's Army Corps, retiring in 1964 as a sergeant first class. For part of her time she was stationed in Japan, probably at Camp Zama. She later worked at the Oakland (California) Army Base, retiring from there in 1979. This collection consists of a photograph album and retirement and appreciation certificates from the Department of the Army.

Massachusetts native Harriette "Hat" Gould Myerson entered the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in August 1942, reporting to the training center at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. In 1943, she went to Adjutant General's School at Fort Washington, Maryland, and after completing her training, she was sent to the Army Administration School in Richmond, Kentucky, to be a Classification and Assignment Officer. Myerson worked at various posts before she was discharged from the Army in 1946.

Pedersen was Assistant Director of the Nursing Service of the United States Veterans Administration from 1925 to 1943. As a Rehabilitation Officer for the American Legion (1947-1950), she was Chief Nurse at the Veterans Administration Facilities at American Lake, Washington, and St. Cloud, Minnesota. Between 1939 and 1954, she actively opposed the Veterans of Foreign Wars ruling barring women from membership. In 1972, she initiated an investigation into discrimination against women veterans in Veterans Administration domiciliary facilities. She was also a member of the Disabled American Veterans. This collection includes speeches read at various nursing conventions as well as published articles and correspondence relating to domiciliary facilities for women veterans.

Peirce, a native of Boston, Mass., was recruited by the FBI in 1941 to work as an undercover agent. She joined the Women's Army Corps in August 1942 and was one of the first women intercept operators for the Boston Intercept Command. She was later stationed as a flight dispatcher in Bangor, Maine, and Mitchell Air Force Base, Long Island, New York. She was discharged from the military in 1945. Throughout her life she retained an avid interest in women in the military, collecting clippings and other information on the subject.

This is a collection of information about Radcliffe College students who served in the armed forces in World War II, compiled by Radcliffe College Archives staff. It is arranged by class (1936-1943) and by individual, and it includes clippings, photographs, certificates, newsletters, postcards, correspondence, and a reminiscence by Mabelle Gertrude Lutze (1983).

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.

A nurse and Republican congresswoman from the Fifth District of Massachusetts, Rogers was elected in 1925 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband, John Jacob Rogers. Re-elected to every successive Congress, she died in office, having served as chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. During both world wars, American presidents assigned Rogers to survey the medical care of wounded American soldiers overseas, and between the wars she oversaw the care of disabled veterans. Legislation attributed to Rogers includes improvement of the Foreign Service, establishment of the Women’s Army Corps, enactment of the G.I. Bill of Rights and the Korean veterans' benefits bill, establishment of a permanent Nurse Corps for veterans, and other laws providing aid and assistance to permanently disabled American war veterans. This collection contains correspondence Rogers received as Committee chairman and with constituents; speeches she made in the House, over radio, before veterans' groups, and for various events; analyses of her voting record; campaign material, citations, and awards; photos; clippings; and sympathy letters concerning her death.

Josephine Biase Schinto, Jeanne Schinto's mother, served with the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) during World War II. Among other items, this collection contains documents and photographs pertaining to her service.

Lavonne (Howerton) Shand was a telephone operator in Longview, Washington, when her husband enlisted in the Navy in 1943. She signed on with the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) and was trained at the U.S. Naval Training School in the Bronx. Other postings were in Rhode Island; Milledgeville, Georgia; Camp Parks, California; and Camp Douglas, Utah. The collection consists of a scrapbook documenting her time in the WAVES and includes newsletters, programs, correspondence, photographs, clippings, cartoons, sheet music, and other memorabilia.

The Sister Soldier Project was founded in 2006 by Myraline Morris Whitaker, a hotel management company owner living in Arroyo Grande, California, in response to the needs of female African American soldiers serving in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan for products difficult to acquire during their deployment. Soldiers received two care packages; one containing women's personal hygiene products and hair care items, such as relaxer kits; and the other containing comforting items such as movies, music, books, magazines, snacks, and flavored water additives. Personal letters from individuals conveying their support and gratitude were also sent to the troops.

In 1943, Ruth Cheney Streeter became the first woman to attain the rank of major in the United States Marine Corps and became the first director of the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve. She retired in 1945 as a colonel. This collection contains a typescript copy of History of the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve: A Critical Analysis of Its Development and Operation, 1943-1945, written for the Department of the Navy by Streeter and Colonel Katherine A. Towle, assistant director and later director of the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve. Also included is a 1981 article about Streeter and two images from Streeter's self-published book, Tales of an Ancient Marine.

Katharine Wolcott Toll was a social worker and lieutenant in the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). While the bulk of her World War II material is housed in other archives, this collection does contain some correspondence pertaining to her service in the WAVES.

This collection consists of an interview with Towle, university dean and colonel in the Women's Reserve of the United States Marine Corps, by Harriet Nathan in 1967.

Formed in 1908 by a group of women to promote "loyalty to our flag and the Spanish War Veterans," the Columbus Auxiliary No. 18 met every two weeks and established committees pertaining to visiting the sick, grievances, auditing, and Memorial Day. The collection consists of two minute books recording elections; meetings; reports of officers; plans for events, fundraisers, etc.; and financial records.

The Army Nurse Corps was established on February 2, 1901. This collection includes brochures, publicity, and biographies of the chiefs of the Corps, along with their photographs.

The Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) was established in 1951 by Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall. The Committee is composed of civilian women and men who are appointed by the Secretary of Defense to provide advice and recommendations on matters and policies relating to the recruitment, retention, treatment, employment, integration, and well-being of highly qualified professional women in the armed forces. Historically, DACOWITS' recommendations have been very instrumental in effecting changes to laws and policies pertaining to military women.

The Women's Reserve of the U.S. Naval Reserve, formerly known as the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), was established on July 30, 1942. This folder contains biographies of Captains Winifred Redden Quick and Louise K. Wilde; a history of the WAVES; and papers of a conference of women District and Air Command Assistants.

The U.S. WAF (Women in the Air Force) Band was officially activated at Lackland Air Force Base on January 14, 1951. Its purpose was to assist with recruiting and to "enhance the prestige of the Air Force and the United States." Consisting of about fifty women at any given time, the band performed for military and public groups nationally and internationally. In 1961, amid debate within the military establishment about the propriety of women in the military, the band was deactivated.

Marion E. Van Winkle served in the Women's Army Corps from May 1943 until the end of World War II. She worked as a telephone operator for the 6716th WAC HQ Company, serving much of the time in Italy and Morocco. This collection consists of her honorable discharge, photographs, and newsletters.

Dorothy Warren served as Director of Training and Records Officer for the United States Women's Army Corps (1942-1946). This collection includes a copy of Warren's birth certificate, resumes, letters of recognition, correspondence, and manuscripts of an article Warren wrote. Most of the collection relates to Warren's military service and includes clippings, orders, memos, training manuals, photographs, and printed material.

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.

In 1984-1985 Dorothy and Carl J. Schneider interviewed more than 300 women from all five branches of the military in an effort to discover how women functioned in the traditionally male world of the American military and how their presence there was changing it. Portions of the interviews were published in 1988 by the Schneiders in Sound Off! American Military Women Speak Out. This collection consists of tapes of twenty-four selected interviews and transcripts of all interviews.

Founded in 1921, the Women's Overseas Service League (WOSL) is a national organization of women who served overseas with the United States Armed Forces. In 1983 WOSL began a project entitled "Carry On: An Oral History of Women's Overseas Service League Members." This collection consists of transcripts of seven interviews as well as one publication regarding the WOSL.

An auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the Corps was founded in 1883 to foster patriotism through acts of charity. Its members were wives and daughters of Union veterans of the Civil War; its charity extended to Union veterans, their dependents, war widows, and orphans. Corps activities included giving support to the GAR and erecting memorials to Union war dead and "loyal women." This collection includes pamphlets, speeches, material on national conventions, and notes on local activities and the deaths of prominent members.

In 1977, the Women's Research and Education Institute was created as the non-partisan data and research arm of the Congresswomen's Caucus Corporation (Washington, D.C.). The Institute gathered and distributed information on the lives of women and provided data that guided impending legislation on the status of women. In 1980, the Institute became an independent nonprofit organization, which continues to provide information, research, and policy analysis to officials and the public. This collection includes materials on the Institute’s Women in the Military project and conference, as well as materials on employment of women veterans.