Diary of a Civil War Nurse

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Photo, Armory Square Nurses, National Library of Medicine
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As men flocked to join the Union and Confederate armies, so, too, many women left their homes to serve as nurses in the war effort. This website presents the story of one such woman, Amanda Akin, who at 35 years of age left New York to work at Armory Square Hospital in Washington, DC, for one year and three months. During that time, she both kept a journal and wrote letters to her sisters recording her experiences.

The website offers images of Akin's diary, photograph portraits, and choice quotes from her recollections, as well as brief explanations and sources related to Civil War nursing in general—for example, books of orders and photographs. The title is somewhat misleading in that the diary itself is not available on the website. Instead, the interactive document link takes you to a map of Washington, DC, with locations relevant to Akin's story and major events of the time. Each location provides photographs (sometimes with a comparison image of the location today), advertisements, and/or artworks; quotes from Akins and other sources; and a small amount of contextual information.

The site links to a copy of Amanda Akin Stearns's (Akin's married name) The Lady Nurse of Ward E which Akin penned in 1909 as a memoir of her time working in the hospital.

Women in the Civil War

Description

Jane Schultz of Indiana University discusses the contributions of women at the front in the Civil War, particularly those who participated as relief workers. This lecture was delivered as part of "America in the Civil War Era: A History Institute for Teachers," held May 17-18 at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI, sponsored by the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Wachman Center and by the Clausen Center for World Business, Carthage College and Adult Education, Carthage College.

Audio and video options are available.

The Complex Legacy of Dorothea Dix: The Troubled and Troubling Heroine of Social Reform

Description

Professor Caroline Cox reviews the life of activist Dorothea Dix (1802-1887), who fought for reform in the treatment of mental patients and served as Superintendent of Army Nurses during the Civil War. She focuses particularly on the difficulties in separating mythology and folklore from truth in tracing Dix's life. Cox also compares and contrasts Dix with the Grimke sisters, Sarah Grimke (1792-1873) and Angelina Grimke Weld (1805-1879), Quakers who worked for both abolition and women's rights.

Women of World War II

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Poster, date unknown (World War II)
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In 1943, at the peak of World War II, the United States military inaugurated the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP, program. The program was designed to bring women pilots into the Air Force in light of the growing shortage of male pilots. More than 1,000 women served in non-combat positions, and eventually flew more than 60 million miles for the war effort. In March 2010, these women received the Congressional gold medal, among the highest civilian honors for courage, service, and dedication.

This website presents more than 250 photographs of women in the service during World War II, including 30 of the WASPs. The Women's Army Corp (WACS), Coast Guard SPARS, Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), Army nurses, and women Marines are also included. There are photographs of nine "notable women," such as Jacqueline Cochran, the founder of the WASPs program, and Lieutenant JG Harriet Ida Pickens and Ensign Frances Wills, the Navy's first African American WAVES officers.

Accompanying these photographs is a selection of close to 100 recruiting posters targeted at women. While other websites document the role of women during World War II, this website stands as one of the largest repositories of contemporary photographs of their military efforts.