War Service

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War Service – World War II Collection, 1940-1945

February 17, 2011 in Student Life, War Service by mbassett | No comments

Call Number

BC 27

Description:

The Barnard College World War II Collection reflects the college community’s attitude toward involvement in the war in Europe both before and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

Barnard students and faculty alike had strong opinions on the war, as seen in the materials collected for the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies and the Barnard chapter of the British War Relief Society. However, after Pearl Harbor and the U.S. government’s formal declaration of war, Barnard undergraduates, faculty, and alumnae united to support the war relief efforts and national service commitments necessary to alleviate wartime shortages of goods, services, and manpower.

Barnard women joined various branches of the armed services during World War II, including the WAVES, WACS, SPARS, WASPS, and American Red Cross Overseas, to do their duty. The curriculum at the College was changed to an accelerated course of studies that emphasized science, mathematics, and economics. The National Service Committee offered courses in First Aid, Motor Transport, Women’s Voluntary Services, Ambulance Driving, Map Reading, etc., to ensure that Barnard graduates would have practical and beneficial skills to offer if they chose to enlist in a branch of the military either abroad or at home.

As the war drew to a close, Barnard College was honored by the Maritime Commission with the commissioning of a warship in its name, the S.S. Barnard Victory. Later, in 1995, a Peace Altar in Columbia University’s St. Paul’s Chapel was dedicated to the students from Columbia (including Barnard) who died in the war.

Scope and Content:

The World War II Collection, 1940-1945 consists of newspaper clippings, flyers, booklets, publications, record books, meeting minutes, reports, brochures, articles, petitions, correspondence, posters, ephemera, and photographs. These materials include committee and curriculum documents, clippings from newspapers and other publications, and correspondence about activities taking place during the war years and the work done by Barnard students, alumnae, and faculty.

The materials in the World War II Collection are arranged into five series: 1. Clippings, 2. Course Catalog Supplements, 3. Committees, 4. Correspondence, and 5. Photographs. The photographs for the entire collection are located in Series 5; descriptions of the photographs related to each series has been included in the individual series descriptions.

Location:

Barnard College Archives
Lehman Hall, Room 19
3009 Broadway
New York, NY 10027

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War Service World War I Material, 1917-1921

February 15, 2011 in Student Life, War Service by archives | No comments

Call Number

BC 26

Abstract

Barnard College was an active participant in the war relief effort during World War I. Barnard was a partner in the Columbia University Mobilization Committee for Women’s Work, which launched a concerted campaign to assist the country in places such as rural areas suffering from the scarcity of male labor, in foreign locations in need of medical care and supplies, and locally with the soldiers coming from and going to war.

The Columbia University Mobilization Committee for Women’s Work became the Committee on Women’s War Work in June 1917. Along with the Barnard College War Relief Association, it spearheaded activities such as the Women’s Agricultural Camp, which provided manual labor to farms in upstate New York that had lost many of their farmhands to the war; nurses, through the American Red Cross, to assist with the repatriation of devastated towns and villages in France; workers, through the YMCA, to set up and work in canteens in France; and undergraduate students and alumnae who set up and worked at a canteen at the Columbia University Boathouse to feed, socialize with, and entertain troops in transit through New York City going home from the war.

Scope & Content Note: World War I materials (1917-1921) consist of reports, inventory lists, resupply lists, receipts, informational bulletins, correspondence, solicitation letters for donations and volunteers, booklets, pamphlets, speeches and notes for speeches, newspaper clippings, financial statements and reports, invoices, meeting minutes, certificates, photographs, and other ephemera. These materials relate to the war relief work done by undergraduate students, alumnae, and faculty at Barnard College.

The materials in the World War I collection are arranged into six series: 1. Columbia University Mobilization Committee for Women’s Work/Committee on Women’s War Work, 2. American Red Cross, France Repatriation Unit, 3. YMCA, France Canteen Unit, 4. Women’s Agricultural Camp/ Farmerettes, 5. Barnard Boathouse Canteen, and 6. Photographs. The abstracts below describe the contents in the related folders for each series. The photographs for the entire collection are located in Series 6, although a description of the photographs related to individual series has been included in the series descriptions.

Location

Barnard College Archives
Lehman Hall, Room 19
3009 Broadway
New York, NY 10027

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