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Doris Dickens Wilson Collection

 Collection
Identifier: WV 0388

Content Description

The collection includes an oral history transcript, 8 March 2007; copy of handwritten service memories and photocopy of photographs in scrapbook during service during WWII from 1942-1945.

Dates

  • 1942-1945, 2007

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

Doris Dickens Wilson (1920-2015), of North Carolina, served in the WAAC (Women's Auxiliary Army Corps) and the WAC (Women's Army Corps) during WWII. Wilson earned her PhD from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and was a professor of family relations at Bradley University for twenty-one years.

Doris Wilson was born in Smithfield, North Carolina, on August 28, 1920. She graduated from high school in Burgaw, North Carolina, in 1937, and for eighteen months worked jobs through the National Youth Administration. She then attended business school in Wilmington, North Carolina, and worked at the Cape Fear Hotel. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Wilson began volunteering in the message center of the filter center in Wilmington.

Wilson enlisted in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) in July of 1942, and was inducted at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in October. She completed basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, and returned to the filter center in Wilmington, where she trained new recruits. She completed Officer Candidate School at Fort Des Moines in May of 1943, reenlisted in the WAC (Women's Army Corps) and was sent to Fort Devens, Massachusetts, where she worked in the base library for three months while awaiting assignment. Wilson was then stationed at Hamilton Field, California, where she helped start a passenger station for shuttling people to the base. In the spring of 1944 she was transferred to the Officer's Promotion Unit in Washington, DC. In November of 1944, she married Stanford Lee Hoye.

After her discharge from the WAC in 1945, Wilson moved to West Frankfurt, Illinois, with her husband. They ran an appliance store there before moving to Anna, Illinois. After their divorce, Wilson returned to school and earned her master's degree from Southern Illinois University in 1960. She taught at the Illinois State Mental Hospital before beginning work as a professor in family relations at Bradley University in Illinois.

Wilson earned her Ph.D. in home economics from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1971, and returned to teaching at Bradley. In 1982 she retired from Bradley after twenty-one years and began part-time work as curator of the Peoria Historical Museum. In 1989, she moved to Halifax, North Carolina. Wilson died on 26 October 2015.

Extent

0.21 Linear Feet (2 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 good.

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.

Title
Doris Dickens Wilson 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

Contact:
P.O. Box 26170
320 College Ave.
Greensboro NC 27402-6170 US
336-334-5246