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Martha M. Garrett Scrapbook

 Collection
Identifier: WV 0674

Content Description

The scrapbook documents the wartime service of Martha M. Garrett with photographs, postcards, magazine and newspaper clippings, and ephemera. The photographs depict medical facilities and patients, as well as the surrounding country and its inhabitants. Photographs include the grounds and buildings of Fort Devens as well as several shots of nurses working in the wards. Prior to leaving for England July 12th on the U.S.S. Olympic, Garrett stopped in New York City where she snapped images of Wall Street, the 5th Avenue bus, and sailors drilling in Battery Park.

There are also a couple of images of women being trained with life preservers prior to sailing, as well as images nurses and soldiers from Base Hospital #29 parading in New York City on the Fourth of July. From Garrett's time at United States Base Hospital No. 29, there are images of the hospital grounds including parked ambulances outside the receiving ward, group shots of nurses and soldiers and one page is filled with 15 signed passport photos of nurses. She provided internal views of doctor's offices, labs, operating rooms, surgical wards and other medical rooms. We also see the pneumonia and flu wards, men healing from fractures, the nurses' dining room and the men's mess hall.

At least one photo shows a surgery being performed and two depict recovering men in beds engaged in rehabilitative embroidery and basket weaving. From Garrett's time at Base Hospital no. 69 at Savenay, France, there are images from around the base including buildings, camouflaged ambulances, nurses relaxing and in the mess hall, and men drilling.

Other photos around Savenay include transport ships, hospital trains, destroyed buildings, trenches, dugouts, piles of shells, and wrecked airplanes. There's a multi-shot series of Decoration Day in 1919 at the American Cemetery in St. Nazaire as well as images in and around Verdun. Five photographs capture a military funeral.

The scrapbook also includes two large images related to Jane Delano, one showing soldiers standing around her elaborately decorated coffin, the other her funeral procession. Delano is a founded American Red Cross Nursing Service by uniting the work of the American Nurses Association, the Army Nurse Corps, and the American Red Cross. She died in Savenay while on a Red Cross mission and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for her efforts in World War I. An earlier page in the album is also devoted to her with a real photo postcard and a small broadside of her biography.

Dates

  • 1917-1920

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.

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information. Please see our Sensitive Materials Statement.

Biographical / Historical

Martha Garrett (1872-1948), of Webster, Iowa, served in the United States Army Nurse Corps during World War I. When the United States first entered the war, Garrett was ineligible for the Army Nurse Corps due to her age. That changed in January, 1918 when the age limit was increased to 45. Garrett was first stationed at Camp Devens, Massachusetts from 22nd March to 28th May, 1918. On July 12th she sailed to England on the U.S.S. Olympic and was assigned to the United States Base Hospital No. 29, in Tottenham on St. Anne's Road. Garrett was later assigned to the Base Hospital no. 69 at Savenay, France, and then to a camp hospital near St. Nazaire, France.

Extent

0.42 Linear Feet (1 Scrapbook.)

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 Victoria Hinshaw.

Title
Martha M. Garrett Scrapbook
Status
Completed
Author
Victoria Hinshaw
Date
2023 February
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