World War I (Group 3)

Thousands of miles, and legally segregated from the first world war, the women of FSCW would for the most part; feel the reverberations of the horrors of WWI, rather than see its terror face to face.

This is not to diminish the hard work of many thousands of women who participated in and supported throughout WWI, rather instead: to set the perspective of many of the students of FSCW.

We see this reflected in the poetry, letters, and articles that detail the various points of view of these females, who despite their geographical detachment from the war, could still see its influence.

The two harrowing poems cantered to the left are written by award winning poet Caroline Henderson Waltz. They perfectly show the juxtaposition of the comradery and bravery of the war, against the dark reality of the true devastating impact it had on so many fighting abroad, and those helping at home.

From youthful revelry:

"To France— the Anzacs' glory road! 
To France— where our last legion ran 
To fight tor God and man! 
To France — with every race and breed"

To brutal reality:

"The blood the sword of despot drains, 
And make our eager sacrifice 
Part of the freely rendered price 
You pay to lift humanity—"

Miss Schwalmeyer's account of her European Travels.

We also get a fascinating lesson in perspective in history by examining the scrapbook pages.

There are no references to "World War I" as the pages of the scrapbook deal with a time before the great war was labeled as such.

To some political illiterate students at FSCW the war might have just seemed like an international spar, or something far beyond the throngs of global history, but of course history would prove otherwise.

We often read about the war from a retrospective view, so one that is uniquely...well...contemporary, is oddly human.

From the page:

"...since these were her own actual experiences
they were doubly interesting to the college girls."

Four unique newspaper clippings including one that talks about post-WWI healing of troops.

While the scrapbook pages reveal intimate depictions of a country at war, they also reveal post-war unification and healing.

The slow and painful process of coming back from a devastating conflict like the first world war is not something we often hear about, but it was a sobering reality for many men and women following WWI.

This is again another uniquely modern example with contemporary soldiers coming back from the Iraq conflict dealing with the same PTSD soldiers dealt with 100 years ago.

Loved ones torn apart by a global conflict finally reuniting after several years separated, or loved ones who never got to be reunited...

A soldier, who could be a student, labeled "Capt. OBerry".

With the global impact of WWI it was no doubt that women would and could play some role in the conflict, but with Americas late entry into the war and the social stigmatism of the time against working roles for women most would have to take a backseat to the war.

During the war 21,498 U.S. Army nurses served in local hospitals and overseas. Over 400 U.S. military nurses died in service almost all from the Spanish flu.

Other's worked on assembly lines or in factories making ammo and supplies. It was the first true time in U.S. history women worked alongside and variably equal to men.

Various photos one of which includes a soldier.

WWI also sees the "Department of Labor" creating a women in Industry group, led by the influential Mary van Kleeck.

The group would see women enter the workforce and help women maintain and work in fair(ish) working conditions.

Most impactfully, the precursor set from actually allowing and fighting for women in the workforce would make the upcoming civil rights and feminist movements moving forward have some legitimate weight and precedent to them.

Women working in WWI would allow women to work from then on.