By Judith Weeks

The American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania Region (SEPA) has moved from its Chestnut Street office to a newly-renovated campus on Spring Garden Street. In the process of closing the building, closets were emptied and boxes in an offsite storage facility were returned to Chestnut Street. The contents accumulated over many years from closing branch offices and chapters throughout the region.

All the boxes filled a room to the ceiling containing clothing, books, scrapbooks, and memorabilia dated from the early 1900s, through WWI, WWII, into the mid twentieth century. How would the enormous task of separating and identifying all this material be accomplished? Nancy Tobin was given the job. It was like sorting through Grandma’s attic looking for precious family heirlooms, only on a much larger scale. Nancy immediately tackled the job. Emily Schricker, a Red Cross volunteer, experienced in cataloging and preserving artifacts, jumped in to help.

It took two years with the help of volunteers to organize and catalog everything. Volunteers organized clothing, manuals, books, volunteer uniforms, coats and hats, scrapbooks, photos, newspaper articles, pins and patches, memorabilia and even dolls. When completed, Nancy reached out to organizations who were interested in some for their collections.

Many items have a story!

American National Red Cross in Washington D.C.

Archivist and Manager of Historical Programs and Collections Susan Robbins Watson, came to  Chestnut Street. She gathered vintage clothing, books, and memorabilia, taking these items to the Red Cross Museum in Washington D.C. for display and restoration.

Susan restored this blue uniform worn by a volunteer for the Braille Corps or the Arts and Skill Corp. During WWII, volunteers used a stamp and board to manually translate literature. The Arts and Skills Corp employed creative arts programs in rehabilitation centers and hospitals for wounded veterans.

A woolen woman’s bathing suit from the 1930’s, was worn by a volunteer from the Red Cross Lifesaving Service. It was hot and heavy on a summer day!

This WWII Canteen Service winter coat and hat was worn by a volunteer distributing baskets filled with food and drinks from a Canteen Truck to soldiers traveling across the country.

DREXEL UNIVERSITY
College of Media Arts and Design, The Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection

Monica Stevens Smyth, Collection Manager and Adjunct Instructor for this world class collection of historic costumes, carefully studied all the uniforms. She was interested in the unusual collection of stained surgical dressing gowns, aprons, veils, and caps from WWI, worn by volunteers when helping nurses. She wanted her students to study these textiles.

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Emily reached out to Cary Hutto, Archive Director of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. She gathered scrapbooks with fragile newspaper clippings and books including the first edition of a book written by Clara Barton. Titled “A History of This Remarkable International Movement in The Interest of Humanity” this book was published in 2014.

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing

Jessica Martucci, Curator and Jessica Clark, Archivist, were interested in first aid and home nursing manuals including the collection of dolls dressed in Red Cross uniforms. Interestingly a first aid book, specifically for Bell Telephone, was included.

WWII MUSEUM IN GETTYSBURG

Richard D’Ambrisi, volunteer Docent and Archivist, for the WWII museum at Gettysburg, was interested in items worn by volunteers who worked for Red Cross canteens. The last Red Cross canteen truck is in this museum. During WWII, canteen trucks were located at train stations where Red Cross Volunteers distributed baskets of snacks and drinks to soldiers coming and going.

WWII MUSEUM IN GERMANTOWN

Mary Harper, Service to Armed Forces volunteer, discovered a doctor’s office on Germantown Avenue with a museum of WWII memorabilia on the second floor. She gathered WWII Red Cross uniforms for display.

Thank you to the committed team for saving these historical materials: Nancy Tobin, Emily Schricker, Anne Arnold, Tina Harris and Gracie Claude.

Left photo: National Red Cross Archivist and Manager of Historical Programs and Collections Susan Robbins Watson with Red Cross volunteers Tina Harris and Gracie Claude and Executive Coordinator Nancy Tobin. Right photo: National Red Cross Archivist and Manager of Historical Programs and Collections Susan Robbins Watson with Red Cross volunteers Emily Schricker and Anne Arnold and Executive Coordinator Nancy Tobin.