Cutting a New Pattern: Uniformed Women in the Great War

by Barton C. Hacker (Editor), Margaret Vining (Editor)

Overview

Scholars in recent decades have begun to pay a great deal of attention to the mobilization of women in the Great War, but why so many women, civilian and military alike, wore uniforms is a question that has scarcely been asked, much less answered. The contributors to Cutting a New Pattern bring this question to the fore and show why it matters. Of the many ways the Great War divided the past from the future, few were more significant than the reordered place of women in society. Although women’s new status clearly had prewar roots, it just as clearly derived from their wartime participation in uniform. Not only did tens of thousands of women for the first time become members of the uniformed forces, many tens of thousands more wore uniforms as members of an enormous variety of paramilitary or quasi-military services, civilian relief and welfare organizations, and as workers. Uniformed female workers and volunteers for wartime service in such large numbers was unprecedented. This ground-breaking project moves women’s uniforms to center stage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781944466350
Publisher:	Smithsonian Institution Press
Publication date:	05/12/2020
Pages:	412
Product dimensions:	7.29(w) x 10.29(h) x 1.08(d)

About the Author

Margaret Vining, who co-edited and contributed to this book, died before it appeared in print, but her inspiration and hard work made it possible. She served as the Curator of Armed Forces History at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. Her publications include Companion to Women’s Military History (Brill, 2012), American Military Technology (Johns Hopkins, 2007), and Science in Uniform, Uniforms in Science (Scarecrow, 2007).

Barton C. Hacker is the Senior Curator of Armed Forces History at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. He has edited and authored numerous books including Astride Two Worlds: Technology and the American Civil War[MG1]  (Smithsonian Scholarly Press, 2016), Companion to Women’s Military History (Brill, 2012), American Military Technology (Johns Hopkins, 2007),  Science in Uniform, Uniforms in Science (Scarecrow, 2007), and Materializing the Military (Science Museum, 2005).

Table of Contents

Preface: Remembering Margaret Barton C. Hacker vii

Introduction: The Meanings of Women in Uniform Baron C. Hacker Marian Moser Jones xi

1 Before the Great War: The Appearance of Women in Uniform, 1854-1914 Barton C. Hacker Margaret Vining 1

2 Fashioning and Performing Martial Femininities: Military Uniforms, Modernity, and Gender Identities in the British Women's Corps, 1914-1921 Krisziina Robert 15

3 Professionalism, Patriotism, and Purity of Purpose: Symbolism and Identity in British and Other Allied Nurses' Uniforms Christine E. Hallett Alison Spires Keiron Spires 51

4 Civilian Women and Uniforms in Britain Tammy M. Proctor 73

5 "If It Made the Man, It Certainly Made the Woman": Uniformity and Canadian Military Nurses Cynthia Toman 84

6 "She Prefers Khaki to the Feminine Mode of Dress": Australian and New Zealand Women in Uniform during the Great War Bruce Scates Margaret Harris Raelene Frances 107

7 Mademoiselles in Uniform: Women Employed by the French Army during the Great War Margaret H. Darrow 139

8 Belgian Women in the Great War: Uniformed or Not? Ilse Bogaerts Luc De Munck 155

9 Identifying Patriots: Women in Uniform in Italy Allison Scardino Belzer 175

10 The Clothes Make the Woman: Russian Women in Uniform Laurie S. Stoff 195

11 "War Is Man Stuff!"? "Uniformed" Women in the (Military) Service of the Habsburg Empire Claudia Reichl-Ham 221

12 "We Have to Admit We Remained Quite Inadequate": Ottoman Muslim Women and the Ottoman Red Crescent Society Nicole A.N.M. van Os 251

13 Sworn Virgins and Mothers of the Wounded: Balkan Women and the Great War Maria Bucur 277

14 Call to Action: American Women in War Relief and Preparedness, 1914-1917 Barton C. Hacker 301

15 Cape, Cap, and Caduceus: American Medical Women and the Politics of Uniforms Marian Moser Jones 325

16 Call to Colors: American Women Join the Armed Forces, 1917-1919 Margaret Vining Barton C. Hacker 355

About the Contributors 375

Index 377