Ruth Coster Collection
Content Description
The collection includes a 2000 February 4 oral history transcript; a handwritten military highlights timeline; a copy of an official Honorable Discharge paperwork; newspaper clippings, 1944 to 1946 and 1994; copies of photographs during Coster's service, 1944 to 1945; and copy of Coster's time at Women in Military Service for America Memorial (WIMSA), 1997.
Dates
- 1944-2000
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright is retained by the creators of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information. Please see our Sensitive Materials Statement.
Biographical / Historical
Ruth J. Coster (1918-2005) of Bonsal, North Carolina, served in the United States Army Air Corps while a member of the Women's Army Corps (WAC) from March 1944 to January 1946.
Ruth L. Johnson Coster was born 11 December 1918, in Bonsal, North Carolina. She graduated from Bahama High School outside of Durham, NC, in 1937 and went to work for the tobacco company Lucky Strike. One or two years later, she moved to Sanford, North Carolina, to work at her sister's service station.
In March 1944, Coster joined the WAC so she could work in the Army Air Corps. She had basic training at Fort Oglethorpe in Georgia and was then stationed at McClellan Field in Sacramento, California, for a few months. Coster returned to Fort Oglethorpe in the fall for overseas training, and on 18 November 1944 she sailed from Camp Stoneman, California, to New Guinea on the United StatesS Monterey. In New Guinea, she was stationed in the supply office of the Far East Air Service Command (FEASC). In August 1945, the FEASC moved to Manila, Philippines, and Coster became a WAC supervisor.
She returned to the United States in December and was discharged 1 January 1946. Coster returned to McClellan Air Force Base to work as a civilian, and soon met Don Coster. They married in December 1947 and lived in Sacramento with their three daughters. Ruth Coster died 8 August 2005.
Extent
0.21 Linear Feet (3 folders )
Language of Materials
English
Metadata Rights Declarations
- License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Creative Commons license.
Condition Description
The condition is fair.
Offensive Language Statement
The UNC Greensboro University Libraries collects, preserves, and makes accessible unique and historical materials for learning and research. The nature of historical materials is such that some material may represent positions, norms, and values that are offensive and objectionable. These materials represent the opinions and actions of their creators. By providing access to these records in our reading room and through our digital collections, we recognize that archives and rare books can play a vital role in holding those creators accountable and in helping us learn from the past.
Our finding aids and other collection descriptions may occasionally re-use language provided by creators or former holders of the materials, but we strive to place outdated or offensive terminology in context. That said, we recognize that we may not always make the right decision and welcome feedback from all sources so we can learn and adjust our practices. Please contact us at scua@uncg.edu if you encounter problematic language in our finding aids or other collection description. We will review the language and, as appropriate, update it in a way that balances preservation of the original context with our ongoing commitment to describing materials with respectful and inclusive language.
Processing Information
Processed by Matthew McCarthy.
- United States. Army. Women's Army Corps -- History
- United States. Army. Women's Army Corps -- Military life
- United States. Army. Women's Army Corps -- Uniforms
- Women and the military
- Women veterans
- World War, 1939-1945
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Female
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Women
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Women -- United States -- Photographs
- Title
- Ruth Coster Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Matthew McCarthy
- Date
- 2022 August
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- eng
Repository Details
Part of the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives Repository