Maxine Newcom Pierce Collection
Content Description
The collection includes an oral history transcript, 8 June 2006; copy of military certificate documenting 20 years of honorable service; military history of assignments from Maxine's naval service from 1957-1963; newspaper clipping "WAVE Maxine Newcom Will Sing In Musical Show "Barnacle Belles", circa 1944; Navy portrait photographs and photographs , circa 1945-1964. Artifact Box contains military ribbons; Textile box contains "Smart Combination" Navy white and black hat; navy Mainbacher style black uniform jacket and skirt; 2 black uniform ties; black garrison cap; double breasted black uniform coat; blue and white striped uniform blouse and skirt with matching garrison cap.
Dates
- 1944-2006
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
Evelyn Maxine Newcom Pierce (b. 1922) of Herrin, Illinois, served in the United States Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) from 1943 to 1964, and then worked at Southern Illinois University until the mid-1980s.
Evelyn Maxine Newcom Pierce was born on 21 September 1922 in Freeman Spur, Illinois, the youngest of seven children. Pierce graduated from high school in Herrin, Illinois, in 1940 and began working in personnel at the nearby Illinois Ordnance Plant."
Pierce enlisted in the United States Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in the fall of 1943. She completed four weeks of boot camp at Hunter College in the Bronx, New York, and then attended yeoman school at the Naval Training Center in Stillwater, Oklahoma, for three months. In early 1944, Pierce was assigned to the Navy Recruiting Station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she performed clerical and then public relations work for almost three years.
She remained in Philadelphia after World War II, at the 4th Naval District and then the Aviation Supply Office, where she was the information and education officer until going on inactive duty." Pierce volunteered to be reactivated and was assigned to 6th Naval District Reserve Recruiting in Charleston, South Carolina, where she did worked as an office assistant.
Following completion of recruiting school in Norfolk, Virginia, Peirce was stationed in St. Louis, Missouri, as a recruiter. Several years later she was transferred to the officer personnel office at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. In June 1957, Pierce went to Washington, D.C., as the chief yeoman for the director of women in the navy, Winifred Quick. She remained there until November 1959, when she was assigned to the United States Navy Training Center in San Diego, California.
Pierce left San Diego for Moffett Field, California, in 1961, and retired from there in 1964. Pierce returned to Illinois after she retired from the navy, and worked in the Office of Research Development and Administration at Southern Illinois University for twenty years. Pierce retired from the university in the mid-1980s.
Extent
4.71 Linear Feet (3 folders, items in WVHP general artifact box 2, textile box 1)
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.
- Korean War, 1950-1953
- Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Participation, Female
- Vietnam War, 1961-1975
- Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Participation, Female
- Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Services (WAVES)
- Women and the military
- Women veterans
- World War, 1939-1945
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Female
- Title
- Maxine Newcom Pierce 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