We’re pleased to offer this post from Phoebe Evans Letocha, Collections Management Archivist at the Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.
“We believe that war nurses can best serve humanity by arousing in the minds of men and women a deadly hatred of war, and that the most effective method of accomplishing this end is by making public the kind of things war nurses see.” (From Johns Hopkins Nurses Alumnae Magazine October 1914 editorial)
In September 2016, we begin a multi-campus exploration of World War I’s effect on the early 20th century Johns Hopkins community: the Homewood campus; the School of Nursing; the Johns Hopkins Hospital; and the schools of Medicine and Public Health. Visit the exhibits, attend events, and explore the comprehensive online exhibit to learn the stories of remarkable individuals as well as the struggles and experiences shared by many in the Hopkins community as they confronted “The War to End All Wars.”
Nurses from the Johns Hopkins base Hospital Unit No. 18 wearing gas masks
World War I (1914-1918) had a deep impact on Johns Hopkins University and its surrounding community. Students and faculty enlisted as soldiers, intelligence officers, and medical personnel. The university’s female patrons, faculty, and students traveled abroad to participate in nursing and war relief. Before, during, and after America’s entry into the conflict, World War I challenged Hopkins intellectuals’ ideas about the international world order, the problem of war, and the role of the university and hospital in wartime.
Exhibit
The Hopkins and the Great War exhibit opens in Fall 2016 in three locations: The Milton S. Eisenhower Library on the Homewood campus (opening 9/1), the School of Nursing Anne M. Pinkard Building (opening 9/1), and the William H. Welch Medical Library (opening 9/22). Drawing on the university’s rich archives, these exhibits explore World War I’s impact on different members of the Hopkins community.
Digital Exhibit
The digital Hopkins and the Great War exhibit brings together documents and artifacts displayed in the three physical exhibits in a comprehensive digital resource. http://exhibits.library.jhu.edu/exhibits/show/hopkins-and-the-great-war
Events
Homewood Campus Exhibit Opening and Reception
Wednesday, September 14, 4:30 PM, Brody Learning Commons, Room 4040, 3400 N. Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21218
Featuring a talk by Dr. Alice Kelly, Women in the Humanities Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. Dr. Kelly’s talk “Ellen N. La Motte: A Hopkins Nurse in the Backwash of War” explores La Motte’s startlingly graphic 1916 memoir and correspondence in the broader context of World War I literature and the wartime avant-garde.
Ready to Serve: A Story of Hopkins Nurses in WWI
Friday, September 23, 1:00 – 2:30 PM, Alumni Auditorium, School of Nursing 525 N. Wolfe St.
Baltimore, MD 21205
The World War I nurses who served with Hopkins Base Hospital 18 come to life in this story drawn from their personal letters. Written and performed by Elloise Schoettler. Event is free and open to the public. This event is offered in conjunction with the exhibit Hopkins and the Great War, which opens in September on the East Baltimore and Homewood campuses. Contact: Erika Juengst (ejuengst@jhu.edu, 410-955-4285)
Nursing and Medical Exhibit Opening and Reception
Tuesday, October 18, 4:30 PM, William H. Welch Medical Library Exhibit Gallery, 2nd Floor
Featuring a talk by Professor Marian Moser Jones, University of Maryland-College Park: “Dispatches from the Second Battlefield: Four Hopkins Nurses Tell Their World War I Stories.”