Women's History Month: Women in Military History

Honoring our Women Veterans during Women’s History Month 

March 1st ushers in Women’s History Month, a time to recognize and celebrate the achievements of servicewomen throughout history. To observe the service and sacrifice of our women veterans, the Pritzker Military Museum & Library brings together all its resources and materials to curate a special collection highlighting this theme. 

From previous exhibits to oral histories, from reference books to autobiographies, from photos to posters, the grouping below shows the impact that women have had, and will continue to have, on military history. The Museum & Library is proud to celebrate women veterans’ trials and triumphs throughout this month, and beyond. 

Women have always had a place in war. The sweethearts back home, as a totem to hold onto while in the trenches. The Donut Dollies and Red Cross Nurses, giving comfort during a crisis. The women who disguised themself so that could pick up arms to support the cause. The "Hello Girls" and the many Women's Reserve divisions during WWII, helping the fight on the front lines. Whether on the homefront or the warfront, women have a role in military history. 

Previous Exhibit: She’s A Wow 

This exhibit, which ran from September 2012 to April 2014, explored the myriad of unique ways women contributed to the war effort outside of the home. 

Holt Oral History Program featuring Women Veterans: 

• Genevieve Bowen – Marine Reserves WWII 

• Ruth Berger – WWII, Europe 

• Elinor Otto – Homefront Worker, WWII 

• Marie L. Davidson – Donut Dolly, Korean War 

• Karen Meter – Vietnam War  

• Diana Ramsey – Combat Zone Nurse, Vietnam War 

• Senator Elizabeth Doyle – Humanitarian Aid 

Posters Featuring Women on the Homefront and the Warfront 

• For your country's sake today, for your own sake tomorrow  

• Women's overseas service league  

• Be a cadet nurse : the girl with a future  

• Woman's place in war : topographic draftsman  

• Woman's place in war : weather observer  

• Woman's place in war : radio repairing  

• The army nurse at war  

• Into the wild blue yonder  

• Enlist as an Air -WAC  

• [Lady sailor]  

• If you want to fight - Join the Marines 

• She's a wow  

• Gee! I wish I were a man   

• SPARS: serve with Women's Reserve 

• For victory!  Help keep men and supplies moving 

• Your duty ashore - his afloat 

• Victory girls  

• C.A.V.F.: Corps Auxilliaire Volontaire Feminin 

• This year's smartest look - Women Marines  

• Flag of freedom 

• Women : There's work to be done and a war to be won 

• In the army - WACS serve with the air forces 

• "Calling WAAC..."  

• Be a marine ...free a marine to fight  

• Mine eyes have seen the glory  

• Attention, women!  Join the WAAC  

• Enlist in a proud profession  

• USO: Until They're Home  

• [Portrait of Margery Shurman] 

• [WAAC] 

Previous programing highlighting Women’s stories: 

• Pamela Toler, Women Warriors: An Unexpected History 

• Elizabeth Cobbs, The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers 

• Mary Weaks-Baxter, Christine Bruun, and Catherine Forslund: We Are a College at War: Women Working for Victory in World War II 

• Joyce Hoffmann, On Their Own: Women Journalists and the American Experience in Vietnam 

• Pamela D. Toler, Heroines of Mercy Street: The Real Nurses of the Civil War 

• Karen Abbott, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War 

• Changes and Challenges: Women in Today's Military 

• Front & Center with John Callaway: Women in the U.S. Military: A Changing Role?  

Works on Women and the Military, available for loan from the Museum & Library: 

• Abbott, Karen. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War. New York: Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2015.  Call number: E608 .A22 2014 

• Atwood, Kathryn J.  Women Heroes of World War I: 16 Remarkable Resisters, Soldiers, Spies, and Medics.  Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2014.  Call number: D639.W7 A88 2014 

• Atwood, Kathryn J.  Women Heroes of World War II: 26 stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Resistance, and Rescue.  Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2011.  Call number: D810.W7 A85 2011 

• Barkalow, Carol, and Andrea Raab. In the Men's House: An Inside Account of Life in the Army by One of West Point's First Female Graduates. New York: Berkley Books, 1992.  Call number: U410.M1 B372 1990 

• Becraft, Carolyn. Women in the U.S. Armed Services: The War in the Persian Gulf. Washington, DC: Women's Research and Education Institute, 1991.  Call number: UB418 .W65 W66 1991 

• Bell, Jerri, and Tracy Crow. It's My Country Too: Women's Military Stories from the American Revolution to Afghanistan. Lincoln: Potomac Books, an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, 2017.  Call number: UB418.W65 B448 2017 

• Bellafaire, Judith, and Gordon R. Sullivan. The Women's Army Corps. [Washington]: [U.S. G.P.O.], 1993.  Call number: UA565.W6 B45 1993 

• Berkin, Carol. Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence. New York: Vintage Books, 2009.  Call number: E276 .B47 2005 

• Biank, Tanya. Undaunted: The Real Story of America's Servicewomen in Today's Military. New York: New American Library, 2014.  Call number: CULTURE UB418 .W65 B53 2013 

• Blanton, DeAnne, and Lauren M. Cook. They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War. Stroud: Sutton, 2005.  Call number: E628 .B52 2002 

• Boles, Antonette. Women in Khaki. New York: Vantage Press, 1953.  Call number: UA565.W6 B637w 

• Bolzenius, Sandra M. Glory in Their Spirit: How Four Black Women Took on the Army During World War II.  Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2019.  Call number: D769.39 .B65 2018 

• Browder, Laura. When Janey Comes Marching Home: Portraits of Women Combat Veterans. The University of North Carolina Press, 2013. Call number: CULTURE U52 .W475 2010 

• DePauw, Linda Grant. Battle Cries and Lullabies: Women in War from Prehistory to the Present. Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 2000.  Call number: D25.5 .D44 1998 

• Holmstedt, Kirsten. Girls Come Marching Home: Stories of Women Warriors Returning from the War in Iraq. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2011.  Call number: CULTURE DS79.76 .H653 2011 

• Jones, David E. Women Warriors: A History. Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, 2005.  Call number: U21.75.J66 1997 

• Lorentzen, Lois Ann, and Jennifer E. Turpin. The Women and War Reader. New York: New York University Press, 1998.  Call number: D810.W7 W656 1998 

• Toler, Pamela D. Women Warriors: An Unexpected History. Boston: Beacon Press, [2019].  Call number: UB416 .T65 2019 

Photographs featuring Women Veterans: 

• Women of all U.S. military services at European Command headquarters  

• [Nominations] 

• Captain Zetta W Jones models new women's Army Green uniform  

• Sgt Norma Jean DeAngelis in Dress Blue uniform 

• [Red Cross marching with flags]  

• Sgt Norma Jean DeAngelis models new womens dress blue uniform  

• The force behind the men 

• A twin proposition