Treating the Total War: Women and the Nursing Corps

Few images are burned into popular culture as deeply as that of Rosie the Riveter, the classic and ever-reproduced representation of female empowerment during WWII. Rosie endures as a metaphor for a time of incredible change for women, a time when the U.S. called women out of the home and into the workforce to support the war effort. Historic records and images, like Rosie, teach us about the experience of women who showed up and bolstered the fight in mass numbers, many as nurses. 

This week, former podcast intern Chris Deitner details the stories of nurses who were central to the war effort. She is joined by our host John Horan, Assistant Oral Historian Annabeth Poe, and Government Records Archivist Joshua Hager. Drawing heavily from the organizational records of the North Carolina Nursing Association, especially correspondence from Executive Secretary Marie Noell, as well as WWII posters and publications, the team discusses the personal and professional implications of the “total war” for women in North Carolina.  

 

State Archives of North Carolina Sources: 

65th Pulse Beat [Fort Bragg], Oct-Nov 1942. Military Collection: North Carolina Military Camps Publications, WWII 5, https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/fort-bragg-65th-pulse-beat/464375?item=464376 

“Hospital No. 3 Sounding Off,” 65th Pulse Beat [Fort Bragg], 16 October 1942, p. 27. Military Collection: North Carolina Military Camps Publications, WWII 5, https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/fort-bragg-65th-pulse-beat/464375?item=464403  

“Become a Nurse— Your Country Needs You,” 1942. Military Collection: World War II Posters, MilColl.WWII.Posters.2.16,  https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/become-a-nurse-your-country-needs-you/463037  

“Our Wounded Need Help!” 1945. Military Collection: World War II Posters, MilColl.WWII.Posters.2.18, https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/our-wounded-need-help/459350  

Correspondence 1920-1949, North Carolina Nursing Association Records, ORG.120 

 

Secondary Sources:  

Tar Heel Nurse [Chapel Hill]. UNC Archives: North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection, NCHH-39: Tar Heel Nurse [1939-Present] :: North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection 

“Our History,” American Red Cross,  https://www.redcross.org/about-us/who-we-are/history.html 

“About NCNA,” North Carolina Nursing Association,  https://www.ncnurses.org/about-ncna/ 

“Marie Brock Noell, RN,” North Carolina Nursing History. Appalachian State University, https://nursinghistory.appstate.edu/biographies/marie-brock-noel-rn 

“WWII and the American Red Cross,” American Red Cross,  http:/redcross.org/history  

“Charles William ‘Billy’ Noell Jr.,” Honor States,  https://www.honorstates.org/profiles/77406/