Unknown Spanish American War Photograph Album

Collection

Identifier: WV 0669

Staff Only

Content Description

This album depicts nurses and male medical personnel at Camp Cuba Libre near Jacksonville, Florida and Camp Onward in Savannah, Georgia. Photographs also include a patient being carried to a hospital train, the disinfecting tent, soldiers cooking and a few photos show the women leaving Camp Cuba Libre in a military carriage. Of particular note is an image of the four Native American nuns who served. These four women, Susan Bordeaux (the Reverend Mother M. Anthony),Ella Clark (the Reverend Sister M. Gertrude), Anna B. Pleets (the Reverend Mother M. Bridget), and Josephine Two Bears (the Reverend Sister M. Joseph) came from the Congregation of American Sisters of Fort Pierre, South Dakota. Although they had no formal medical training, they had three years experience learning to treat patients in homes and hospitals near Fort Pierre. While they first served at Camp Cuba Libre, they were soon transferred to Havana where Susan Bordeaux died of complications related to tuberculosis. All four were awarded the Cross of the Order of Spanish-American War Nurses for bravery and heroism in the hospital and on the field. In addition to the camp images, there are a number of street scenes of Jacksonville and a few of Savannah, Georgia. There are also several vernacular, and six commercial, images of Cuba as well as a shot of the hospital ship, Missouri, on its way to Cuba.

Dates

circa 1898

Conditions Governing Access

This 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.

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Biographical / Historical

American female nurses served in the Spanish-American War to fill the shortage created by the lack of male nurses. While Congress would not allow women to join the military, it authorized the hiring of female nurses as contractors, and Dr. Anita Newcomb McGee headed the recruitment drive in conjunction with the Daughters of the American Revolution. They called it the “D.A.R. Hospital Corps.” By the end of August 1898, the Army Nurse Corps was established as part of the Surgeon General's office. Approximately 1560 nurses served, and 153 died—all from disease. Later, McGee wrote the section on nursing for the Army Reorganization Act which Congress passed in 1901, officially establishing the Army Nurse Corps as part of the United States military.

Extent

0.42 Linear Feet (1 Photograph Album.)

Language of Materials

English

Metadata Rights Declarations

License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Creative Commons license.

Additional Description

Condition Description

The condition is fair.

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