History Commons^™

Bureaus Of Ungentlemanly Warfare: Comparing The Roles Of Women In The Special Operations Executive And The Office Of Strategic Services During World War Ii, Adaline Nolley

Senior Honors Theses

In 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill created the Special Operations Executive. The SOE was one of the first government agencies to recruit female spies. In 1941, United States President Franklin Roosevelt commissioned the Office of Strategic Services, which also employed women. The organizations approached the concept of female agents differently. The OSS maintained female staff in domestic offices, but employed foreign women as agents. The SOE recruited women to go abroad, as they were less suspicious than men in occupied territories. The study of female staff in the OSS and the SOE allow historians to understand roles of women …

“She May Look Clean, But—”: Venereal Disease In The U.S. Military During World War Ii, Emma Lukin

The Forum: Journal of History

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

The Forum: Journal of History

No abstract provided.

Redefining Gender Roles In Higher Education: Women At Gettysburg College During World War Ii, Addison E. Lomax

Student Publications

Throughout the early 20th century, the role of American women began to change. The U.S. entrance into World War II and resulting draft provided women at institutions of higher education the opportunity to develop their place on college campuses. Through analyzing yearbooks, student publications, and personal testimonies, the case of Gettysburg College provides a lens to better understand the changing dynamics on college campuses during the war years. Although men remained on the campus of Gettysburg College during the war years, the changing dynamics of the College, both academically and socially, allowed women the opportunity to increase not only their …

Interview With Elizabeth Ann Baughman, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections Oral History collection

Elizabeth Ann Baughman, née McKinnon, interviewed by Esther Mallard, April 5, 1988. Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog!

The Impact Of The United States Army Nurses Corps On The United States Army Fatality Rate In The Mediterranean And European Theater Of Operations During World War Ii, Joshua Benjamin Groomes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

World War II was the most devastating war in human history in terms of loss of life. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, plunged the United States into war. Less than seven thousand military nurses were on active duty at the time of the attack. By the end of the war, there were over fifty-thousand active-duty nurses. The army nurses performed under fire in field and evacuation hospitals, on hospital trains and ships, and as flight nurses on medical evacuation transport aircraft. The skill and dedication of the Army Nurses Corps insured a 95% survival rate …

"After All, Who Takes Care Of The Red Cross's Morale?": The Experiences Of American Red Cross Clubmobile Women During World War Ii, Paige Gulley

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

This thesis examines the experiences of the women who served in the American Red Cross Clubmobile Service in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. Their job required them to travel through England, France, and even Germany in converted buses and 2 ½ ton trucks, serving coffee, donuts, and a smile to soldiers just off the front lines. Though considered essential to maintaining soldiers’ morale, historians have virtually ignored these women’s experiences and role in the war. The inattention to their participation by the academic community parallels the disregard the women faced during the war. Clubmobile women encountered …

Collegiate Codebreakers: Winthrop, Women, And War, Marlana Mayton

Graduate Theses

During World War II, college-aged women from across the nation filled United States Army and Navy secretive cryptanalysis facilities to help win the war. For many women, colleges facilitated involvement in codebreaking. Through information gathered in oral histories, this thesis primarily explores war related programs at American colleges and the young women that became cryptanalysts. Academic institutions, like Winthrop College, became the nuclei for colligate codebreakers. They acted as early crypt education centers, through the offering of cryptology classes, functioned as recruitment centers, and operated as essential training hubs. While in school, young women were saturated by a climate of …

Index To Thelma Mcpike Klauss Interview, Melvin Van Hurck

Linfield University Public History Project: World War II as Experience and Memory

This index provides a time-stamped overview of the subjects discussed during an oral history interview with Thelma (McPike) Klauss, Linfield College class of 1949.

Index To Gertrude Hall Jette Interview, Melvin Van Hurck

Linfield University Public History Project: World War II as Experience and Memory

This index provides a time-stamped overview of the subjects discussed during an oral history interview with Gertrude (Hall) Jette, Linfield College class of 1984.

Index To Margery Jordan Pease Interview, Melvin Van Hurck

Linfield University Public History Project: World War II as Experience and Memory

This index provides a time-stamped overview of the subjects discussed during an oral history interview with Margery (Jordan) Pease, Linfield College class of 1947.

Index To Virginia Haynes Yungen Interview, Melvin Van Hurck

Linfield University Public History Project: World War II as Experience and Memory

This index provides a time-stamped overview of the subjects discussed during an oral history interview with Virginia (Haynes) Yungen, Linfield College class of 1947.

Index To Dorothy Buckingham Adkins Interview, Melvin Van Hurck

Linfield University Public History Project: World War II as Experience and Memory

This index provides a time-stamped overview of the subjects discussed during an oral history interview with Dorothy (Buckingham) Adkins, Linfield College class of 1947.

Index To Mitsue Endow Salador Interview, Melvin Van Hurck

Linfield University Public History Project: World War II as Experience and Memory

This index provides a time-stamped overview of the subjects discussed during an oral history interview with Mitsue (Endow) Salador, Linfield College class of 1945.

Index To Peggy Parent Lutz Interview, Kara Skokan

Linfield University Public History Project: World War II as Experience and Memory

This index provides a time-stamped overview of the subjects discussed during an oral history interview with Margaret "Peggy" (Parent) Lutz, Linfield College class of 1943.

Index To Hulda Beckley Fitzsimons Interview, Melvin Van Hurck

Linfield University Public History Project: World War II as Experience and Memory

This index provides a time-stamped overview of the subjects discussed during an oral history interview with Hulda (Beckley) Fitzsimons, Linfield College class of 1944.

Index To Roberta Schmalz Campbell Interview, Ruby Guyot

Linfield University Public History Project: World War II as Experience and Memory

This index provides a time-stamped overview of the subjects discussed during an oral history interview with Roberta (Schmalz) Campbell, Linfield College class of 1949.

“Kinder, Küche, Und Kirche”: Women’S Work In The Third Reich, Margarete Crelling

History Undergraduate Theses

Under dictator Adolph Hitler, Germany was transformed into a totalitarian state. When World War II was declared on September 1, 1939, it was clear that the world would never be the same. The Nazi Party controlled nearly every aspect of German society with an iron fist, including religion, education, culture, and the role of women and family. Today, conversations and research about the Nazi regime during World War II often focus on the horrors of the Holocaust and its male perpetrators—Adolf Hitler, his officers, and troops. The important role women played in Germany during World War II is often overlooked …

Women In Wartime Shipyards: Operating A Drill Press Was Like Using An Egg Beater, Carol A. Strohmetz

Master's Theses

This research examines the duality of the roles of American women during World War II. The research draws upon oral histories, newspaper accounts and advertisements, music and films of the time, letters and family scrapbooks, and primary and secondary sources. Most prior research focuses on either women in the workforce or women in the home. This research synthesizes all aspects of the lives of women as they navigated the hostile terrain of the male workforce and continued to perform the duties assigned to them by society. This research highlights the multiple roles that women successfully executed as they cared for …

"Avenging Furies": The Memoirs Of American Women In The Philippines During The Second World War, Meghan E. O'Donnell

Student Publications

A large and active resistance movement developed in the Philippines during the Japanese occupation of the islands from 1942-1945. This paper discusses the memoirs of several women caught up in these movements, specifically Claire Phillips, Margaret Utinsky, Yay Panlilio, and Virginia Hansen Holmes. I argue that these women utilized their memoirs to secure places for themselves in history, using gendered and racialized language to define their experiences as incredible adventures. Their memoirs give significant insight into the civilian experience of the Japanese occupation and testify to the unique efforts made by women to support the American cause.

Winchel, Beulah Rhea, 1912-2015 (Mss 609), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 609. Correspondence, photographs, travel materials, genealogy, and other personal papers of Beulah R. Winchel, a Breckinridge County, Kentucky, native and a teacher and librarian who served in Japan, Germany and France with the U.S. Army Special Services and the Department of Defense Dependents Schools.

Creating A Female Athlete: The Power Of Societal Reimaging And Advertising In The All American Girls Professional Baseball League, Kaitlyn M. Haines

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The All American Girls Professional Baseball League introduced an acceptable form of female sport to the United States during World War II. The All American Girls Professional Baseball League’s feminine image and high standards of the league provided a new quality team sport that the ever popular softball diamonds of industrial recreation had failed to reach. One of the reasons for their success was the attention to detail in the visual representation of the baseball league. Appearing in a time of heightened advertising and branding, a visual representation of the League was created to fit within the societal norms of …

Canadian Servicewomen And The Second World War, Kimberly Gomez, Kayla Troy, Lina Vargas Jaramillo, Fozia Yasmeen

Canadian Military History Research Posters

Public history poster on Canada’s military past about the Canadian servicewomen in World War II by students Kimberly Gomez, Kayla Troy, Lina Vargas Jaramillo, and Fozia Yasmeen

Wedding Family Papers (Sc 3053), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Small Collection 3053. Miscellaneous papers of the Wedding family of Ohio County, Kentucky: “A Soldier’s Valentine,” a Spanish-American War-era poem by C. L. Wedding; clippings, including article about the poem and obituary of Denver E. Wedding; 1942 Hopkins County Rationing Board notice appointing Christine Wedding as a registrar; and 1942 letter to Christine Wedding from a serviceman’s wife regarding his departure overseas. For Spanish-American War related material in this collection, click on "Additional Files" below.

Comfort Women: The 1946-1948 Tokyo War Crimes Trials And Historical Blindness, Kathryn J. Witt Ms.

The Great Lakes Journal of Undergraduate History

This essay analyzes why the comfort women were not mentioned until recent decades. The essay starts with an overview of Japan’s colonization and formation of the Comfort Women system; next, the history of the women and a comparison between the Korean and Dutch comfort women are being compared before going into the Tokyo War Crimes Trials. It discusses historical blindness through the Tokyo War Crimes Trials. There are three factors into how the United States government officials, including General Douglas MacArthur and Joseph Berry Keenan, manipulated the trials: United States government’s conduct, the general view on gender crimes, and the …

Moore, Mary (Taylor) Leiper, 1885-1973 - Collector (Sc 2992), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2992. Newspaper clippings, model press releases and other materials collected by Mary Leiper Moore, chairman of the publicity committee for a drive to recruit Warren County, Kentucky women for the Women’s Army Corps (WACs). Includes Moore’s letter to the commander of Louisville’s Bowman Field complaining of the Army’s poor planning of a publicity event held at Western Kentucky University on 12 November 1943.

Oral History/ Betsy Babb, Natalia Pena

World War II

No abstract provided.

Suffering Sisters, Silent Majorities, And Societal Oppression: Comparing The Anti-War Themes And Strategies Of Kurt Vonnegut’S Slaughterhouse-Five And Katherine Anne Porter’S “Pale Horse, Pale Rider”, Melissa N. Miller

Senior Honors Theses

Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Katherine Anne Porter’s “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” are quite dissimilar in style, but these two works convey overall anti-war themes. The works were written in different eras, portray different wars, and are strongly influenced by the lives of the authors themselves; however, these unique factors work together in both works to convey similar messages regarding war’s oppressive nature and corruption of mankind. Vonnegut and Porter employ various methods to communicate these messages, some unique to the respective works and some shared by the two. The characters of Montana Wildhack and Miranda Gay—two oppressed female characters imprisoned …

Women And World War Ii At Gettysburg College, Keira B. Koch

Student Publications

An examination of the women attending Gettysburg College during World War II. This project examined what the women did and experienced during the World War II, along with analyzing campus culture and life.

Ms-177: Lillian Quinn Letter Collection, Avery N. Fox

All Finding Aids

The collection consists primarily of letters written from Lillian Quinn to Lillian Carling. The letters span from January 27, 1937 to August 8, 1949 and focus on family health, activities, and troubles of the Quinn family, as well as their opinions about World War II and how it impacts the family.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website https://www.gettysburg.edu/special-collections/collections/.