Name/Title
Red Cross officers demobilize at the end of World War IEntry/Object ID
2013.13.1.157Description
Clippings and memorabilia from World War I scrapbook compiled by Dr. Naaman H. Keyser, page 153b.
A single newspaper clipping, undated and from an unknown newspaper, is glued to page 153b. This clipping bears the headline "Peace Finery to Supplant Motor Corps Women's Khaki." The article continues with "Girls and women of the Red Cross Motor Corps, formerly known as the Motor Messenger Service Corps, tomorrow will shed the khaki uniform and don the feminine finery of peace and rest and summertime. After two years and one month of continuous service in the cause of the United States the organization will cease to exist. It will be formally demobilized at 5 o'clock tomorrow afternoon at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Harvey Dougherty, School House lane. Simultaneously with the declaration of war in April, 1917, the corps was formed, and its members were the first women in Philadelphia to wear uniforms. Criticized for this innovation at the start, they soon were followed by numerous women's war-work organizations . They now are the first to exchange the khaki for civilian attire. From the day the corps was established it has maintained an unbroken record of service until May 5, 1919. In that period the girls and women in their trim uniforms have driven their cars for 39,415 hours and have carried thousands of passengers, among whom the patients during the influenza epidemic are best remembered. The corps was formed by Miss Letitia McKim, its first captain. But after one month Miss McKim left for France to engage in war work, and she was succeeded by Captain Mrs. Thomas L. Elwyn, who has continued in that office until this day. Miss Helen Dougherty is the corps's adjutant," etc. Includes photographs of Mrs. Thomas Langdon Elwyn and Miss Helen Daugherty [Dougherty??].
Pages are 7.5 x 10".Photograph Details
Subject Place
* Untyped Subject Place
unknownCollection
GHS Scrapbook CollectionMade/Created
Studio
UnknownNotes
Author: Unknown
