Research Guides: Women's History Resources in the Special Collections Research Center: War Accounts & Military Involvement

War Accounts & Military Involvement

American Revolutionary War

History of the rise, progress, and termination of the American Revolution, 1805 (E208 .W29)
Mercy Otis Warren, political writer and Revolution propagandist, wrote this three volume set, a comprehensive study of the events of the American Revolution, from the Stamp Act Crisis of 1765 through the ratification of the Constitution. SCRC's copy of this publication was owned and inscribed by St. George Tucker, an early American lawyer and W&M professor of law.
Familiar letters of John Adams and his wife Abigail Adams, during the revolution, 1876 (E322 .A518)
Transcriptions of correspondence between John and Abigail Adams, accompanied by a biographical sketch of Abigail, one of her husband's closest political advisors and an ardent supporter of the American Revolution.

American Civil War

Elizabeth Van Lew Collection, 1854-1926 (Mss. 65 V32)
Notes, biographical sketches, and photographs collected by John Albree, a historian whose research focuses on Elizabeth Van Lew. Van Lew, an abolitionist from Richmond, Virginia, who spied for the Union Army. Included in this collection is Albree's typed transcription of Van Lew's personal scrapbook.
The Woman in battle: A narrative of the exploits, adventures and travels of Madame Loreta Janeta Velázquez, 1876 (E605 .V43)
Personal memoir (1876) of Loreta Janeta Velázquez, a Cuban-American woman who claimed to have joined the Confederate Army disguised as a male soldier after the death of her husband.
Harriette Cary Diary, 1862 (Mss. MsV D24)
Cary details the occupation of Williamsburg, Virginia by Union troops following the Battle of Williamsburg. Read her digitized diary on the W&M Digital Archive.
Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society Minute Book, 1862-1865 (SC 00959)
Minute book of the Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society (Monroe, Michigan), a women's organization that packed and shipped medical supplies to the hospitals of the Union Army.
Harriet Tubman Stamp Kit, 2019 (MS 00320)
21st-century rubber stamp engraved with the name and portrait of Harriet Tubman, designed to eclipse President Andrew Jackson's portrait on a U.S. twenty-dollar bank note.

World War I

Clara L. Lawrence Papers, 1911-1920 (Mss. Acc. 2009.299)
Documents the work of Clara Lawrence as a World War I nurse in France with the American Expeditionary Force. View Lawrence's digitized photograph album and souvenir book on the W&M Digital Archive.

Edith Gibbons Diary, 1918-1919 (SC 00459)
Account of Gibbons' time in England and France with the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), just after the end of World War I, giving aid to American soldiers still stationed there. Read her digitized diary on the W&M Digital Archive.
Mary Elizabeth's war time recipes, 1918 (TX715 .E883)
Recipe book for housewives trying to ration meat, wheat, and sugar during America's involvement in World War I.

World War II

Lane Carlson Papers, 1937-1972 (MS 00004)
Professional papers, letters, and photographs of Colonel Lane Carlson, one of the first five female colonels in the United States Army, including accounts of time spent at military bases in Japan and West Germany
Berdean Hall Letters, 1941-1946 (MS 00222)
Letters addressed to Berdean Hall during her time serving in the United States Women's Army Corps (WAC) in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. These letters document the conditions of Army hospitals in the United States during World War II, and highlight mixed reactions to women's involvement in the U.S. military during World War II.
Ardessa L. Coffee Pitts Letters, 1944 (MS 00233)
Greeting cards, telegrams, and letters sent by Pitts to her husband, an African American private serving in a segregated unit of the U.S. Army. Pitts expresses the stress of navigating home life and a marriage during wartime.
Goldie Leatherman Scrapbook, 1942-1945 (Mss. Acc. 2012.036)
Leatherman's scrapbook contains several pieces of World War II ephemera, including war bond packages, newsletters, and fliers relating to the war effort. Diary entries describe her husband George being drafted into war. View Leatherman's digitized scrapbook on the W&M Digital Archive.

A page from Goldie Leatherman's Scrapbook featuring newspaper clippings alongside handwritten diary entries.

More Resources

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