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Women in the Military - WWII: Primary Sources: Archives & Records

Manuscripts

Women’s Army Corps Papers, 1942-1948.
Correspondence (1942-1948), clippings (1944-1945), photographs (1944-1945), military insignia and ribbons (1944-1945), military song books (1944-1945), and Air Force-issued guides and other printed materials (1944-1945) documenting a Minnesota woman’s service in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during World War II.
MNHS call number: P2845

Anne Bosanko Green and Family Correspondence.
This collection consists of correspondence between Anne Bosanko and her parents, Paul and Blanche Bosanko, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Anne enlisted in the Women's Army Corps in September, 1944, and her letters relate to her activities in the WAC, her course work and training as a medical technician, her social life inside and outside of her various posts, and her travel between assignments. 
MNHS call number: See the finding aid in the library (Green, Anne Bosanko).

Virginia Mae Hope Papers.
Virginia ("Ginny") Mae Hope flew airplanes for the Army Air Force's Weather Wing out of Patterson Field (Fairfield, Ohio) in 1943-1944. She died in a plane crash in December 1944. Hope's collection documents her World War II service in the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). The collection includes clippings, orders, letters, photographs and memorabilia, flight training information from the 318th Army Air Corps Ferry Training Command at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, student-pilot rating books, and her flight log from 1941-1944.
MNHS call number: Digital Finding Aid

Catherine Piccolo Papers.
This manuscript collection contains clippings, correspondence, military commissions and commendations, and miscellaneous materials relating to Piccolo's World War II service in the Women's Army Corps as director of classified files for the Manhattan Project.
MNHS call number: See finding aid in the library (P1220).

Geraldine Barry Scrapbook, 1942-1979.
Scrapbook containing photos, military service orders, newspaper clippings, and other memorabilia documenting Barry’s career as an officer in the Women’s Army Corps from 1942 to 1961.
MNHS call number: P1502

Scrapbooks, 1943-1946
Correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, military orders and documents, Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) promotional printed material, and miscellaneous material relating to Emily Marie Schmid’s service in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) from 1943-1946. The first scrapbook contains personal memorabilia, and the second contains general articles and cartoons about the WACs.
MNHS call number: 144.C.11.7B

"A WAC's War: Reminiscences," by Betty Olson.
This manuscript collection contains the writings of Betty Magnuson Olson, a Duluth woman who joined the Women's Army Corps and was stationed in Paris.
MNHS call number: See finding aid in the library (P1745).

Books & Other Publications

One Woman's War: Letters Home from the Women's Army Corps, 1944-46, by Anne B. Green.
St. Paul, Minn.: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1989.
MNHS call number: Reading Room D807 .U6 G74 1989

"Private Bosanko Goes to Basic: A Minnesota Woman in World War II," by Anne Bosanko Green.
In Minnesota History, vol. 51, no. 7 (fall 1989), pages 246-258.
MNHS call number: Digital copy of the article.

Coming Back to Myself: A Memoir of Jeanne Goldoff Bearmon, with assistance from Mary O’Brien Tyrrell.
St. Paul, Minn. : Memoirs, Inc., c2008.
MNHS call number: D811 .B42 2008

An Army in Skirts: The World War II Letters of Frances DeBraby France DeBra Brown.
Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press, 2008.
MNHS call number: D769.39 .B76 2008

I Served Uncle Sam in World War II, by Effie Ruth Larson.
New York : Vantage Press, c1996.
​MNHS call number: D811 .L37 1996

A Time of Remembrance: Fifty Years and a Day, December 7, 1941 - December 8, 1991.
Photocopy of a commemorative pamphlet containing fourteen brief reminiscences about life during the Second World War by members of the Macalester-Plymouth United Church community. The reminiscences include information about men's and women's service in the Armed Forces, life on the home front, and the replacement of men by women in the factories.
MNHS call number: See finding aid in the library (P160).
 

Love at First Flight: One Woman's Experience as a WASP in World War II--and Fifty Years Later, She's Still Flyingby Elizabeth Strophus, as told to Cheryl Young.
St. Cloud, Minn.: North Star Press of St. Cloud, 1994.
MNHS call number: D790 .S89 1994

Women Remember the War, 1941-1945edited by Michael E. Stevens, Ellen D. Goldlust, assistant editor.
Madison, Wis.: Center for Documentary History, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1993.
MNHS call number: D810 .W7 W67 1993

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