Skip to main content

Margaret Chamberlin Smith Collection

 Collection
Identifier: WV 0349

Content Description

The collection includes an oral history transcript, 9 June 2006; various photographs of Smith's Women AirForce Service Pilots (WASP) service, circa 1944.

Dates

  • circa 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

Margaret L. Chamberlin Smith (b. 1919) of Shelby County and Charleston, Illinois, attended WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) training in 1944, then returned to Illinois and had a teaching career.

Margaret L. Chamberlin Smith was born in Shelby County, Illinois, on 24 June 1919, to a postal carrier and a homemaker. She was raised in nearby Charleston, and attended Eastern Illinois University's grade school and high school. She graduated from the university in 1942 with a major in business education." After graduation Smith attended radio code training for six months at St. Louis University and then taught Morse code at Scott Air Force Base near Belleville, Illinois. While she was teaching, Smith began taking flying lessons.

Smith joined the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) and in April 1944 went to training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, as part of class 44-9-T. She left in August 1944 when it became apparent the WASP would be disbanded." Smith returned to Charleston, Illinois, and began flying lessons to become a commercial pilot. While there she met and married Don Smith. She stopped flying and they raised a family in southern Illinois. Smith taught school for almost thirty years, primarily high school business education.

Extent

0.21 Linear Feet (2 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
Margaret Chamberlin Smith 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

Contact:
P.O. Box 26170
320 College Ave.
Greensboro NC 27402-6170 US
336-334-5246