Skip to main content

Dorothy Baker Collection

 Collection
Identifier: WV 0385

Content Description

The collection includes an oral history transcript, 21 February 2007; Women in the Military Memorial booklet,1997; photocopy of article "Merchant Vessels Beome Mercy Ships" not dated; various photographs of Jean during service and later in life printed from the UNCG website.

Dates

  • circa 1944, 1997, 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

Dorothy Ahlswede Baker (1923-2015), of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, participated in the Cadet Nurse Corps program then served in the United States Army Nurse Corps from 1945 to 1947.

Dorothy Ahlswede Baker was born in 1923 and grew up in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. She attended Bellin College of Nursing in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and joined the Cadet Nurse Corps while there. After graduation, she worked at the Sturgeon Bay Hospital for several months.

Baker joined in the Army Nurse Corps and reported to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, for basic training in February 1945. She was assigned briefly to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, before transferring to Charleston, South Carolina, to serve on the United States Army hospital ship Wisteria, which transported German prisoners of war to Europe and returned sick and wounded American soldiers to the United States.

In 1946 Baker spent several months chaperoning war brides on troop trains from Camp Kilmore, New Jersey. She was also assigned to Fort Lewis, Washington, and then Fort Lawton, Washington, where she served aboard a hospital ship transporting soldiers from the Pacific Theatre.

She was discharged from the U.S. Army in the summer 1947 upon marriage to Horace Baker, a doctor serving aboard the same ship. The Bakers resided in North Carolina, eventually settling in Southern Pines. Baker died in 2015.

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 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
Dorothy Baker 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