Ruth Shaver Collection
Content Description
The collection includes various Correspondence; interviews and news releases; military papers; publications; newspaper clippings; poems; scrapbook; and photographs.
Publications include: WAAC/WAC/Army Printed Material, circa 1942-1945: pamphlet 155 WAC Jobs, 1943; pamphlet Guide for the Operation of Block Leader Service, 1943; pamphlet Physical Examinations of Personnel of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, 1943; pamphlet Tentative WAAC Drill Regulations, circa 1942-1943; pamphlet Train Regulations, circa 1942-1945; pamphlet W.A.A.C. Recruiting Training Memorandum, circa 1942-1943; book WAC Songs, circa 1943-1945; and book Women's Army Corps Fact Sheet, 1943. WAAC/WAC/Army Publications, circa 1942-1946: pamphlet 73 Questions and Answers about the WAC, 1943; pamphlet 90,000 More WAAC Recruits,1943; pamphlet A Plan for Increasing the Rate of Enrollment in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, 1943; pamphlet Graduation Seventeenth Officer Candidate Class of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, 1943; pamphlet, Summary of Organizational and Promotional Work Effected for the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, 1943; newsletter WAC News Letter, July 1943; and pamphlet, When You Are Overseas, 1943.
Dates
- 1942-1951, 1963-1966, 1997
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 Shaver (1900-1990) served as a recruiter in Ohio and an intelligence officer in Europe as a member of the WAC and WAAC during World War II.
Ruth Shaver was born in Ohio in 1900. She attended Muskingham College in New Concord, Ohio, and Winthrop College in Rock Hill, South Carolina, before being employed as a School of Education instructor and methods supervisor in the Curry Training School of the Woman's College (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) in 1937.
In 1943 Shaver enrolled in the Woman's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). After basic training at Ft. Des Moines, Iowa, and Officer Candidate School, Shaver was appointed to head recruiting for both the WAAC and it's successor, the Women's Army Corps (WAC), for the state of Ohio, and also served as the liaison officer to the governor. In 1944, Shaver received orders overseas to join the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force in the Intelligence Section of Psychological Warfare, and was also appointed commanding officer of a company of WACs going overseas. To prepare for her work in intelligence, she was sent to British Intelligence School, where she and one other WAC were the first two women to ever attend that school. Shaver was then sent to Paris, where she worked as an interpreter and as an interrogator of French prisoners of war and deportees. She was later transferred to Germany, where her duties included working to counteract German propaganda. Her last position in Europe was in France as dean of women and teacher of French at Biarritz American University. By this time she had been promoted to captain. For her distinguished service during the war, she was awarded the American Bronze Star and the French Croix de Guerre.
After the war, Shaver returned to Greensboro and Curry School. In 1950 she moved over to Woman's College, as associate professor in the Department of Romance from which she retired in 1966. Shaver died on 27 January 1990.
Extent
0.21 Linear Feet (12 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.
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Processing Information
Processed by Matthew McCarthy.
- United States. Army. Women's Army Auxilliary Corps -- Military life
- United States. Army. Women's Army Auxilliary Corps -- Recruiting, enlistment, etc.
- United States. Army. Women's Army Corps -- Military life
- Women and the military
- Women veterans
- World War, 1939-1945
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Armed Forces -- United States -- Correspondence
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Female
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Women
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Women -- United States -- Photographs
- Title
- Ruth Shaver Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Matthew McCarthy
- 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