Evelyn Hill: "We Are Living In An Inspiring Uncertainty"

During the First World War newspaper editors were interested in publishing "local interest" stories with war service news. The Oregonian periodically featured a section reprinting letters from Oregonians in war service sent home to family and friends. Happily, several letters home featured women from Base Hospital 46. They expand our understanding of their story and add their voices to the history of the unit.

Evelyn Hill, R.N.

  Grace Phelps Papers, Box 3, Binder 5, Base Hospital 46 Staff Files, Historical Collections & Archives, Oregon Health & Science University. Courtesy Historical Collections & Archives, OHSU.

Base Hospital 46 Nurse Evelyn Hill wrote to her family about her shipboard experiences -- both routine and unusual -- on the voyage to France in July 1918. The 105 Base Hospital 46 nurses and civilian staff members sailed separately and a few weeks later than the men of the unit. They made the crossing on a British transport ship the Aquitania and arrived in Bazoilles sur Meuse on July 19. (Wight, On Active Service, 56, 58). (I've posted the complete roster of female staff members linked at the upper right for your reference.)

"Portland Girl Assists in Coaling Steamer," Oregonian, August 11, 1918, Section 2, p. 4.

Here's a transcript, with a minor correction to the news copy error:

"One day we were taken over the entire ship by the second officer and we even helped coal the steamer -- for a couple of minutes. It almost broke our heart to see the lads stoking in the engine room, but they do not mind the heat, replying to our inquiry, 'oh, you get used to it.' Last night we had a beautiful concert and a collection was taken up for the widows and orphans of the men lost at sea. Everyone was very liberal. I felt like giving my last cent, but we had to keep a little for future emergencies.

"We have a boat drill each day, when we all rush madly to our own boat. Afterward we have a band concert and tea served in the music room at 4 P.M. In the evening we usually have a sing in the officers' smoking room.

"I can hardly wait for the day when I go on duty again. We are living in an inspiring uncertainty -- you never feel tired, yet, I go to bed and sleep like a baby. Our beds are very comfortable and our food is exceptionally good -- much better, in fact, that in the metropolis of our own United States. But these letters should not be too long for the sake of the poor censor. I saw him wading through some lengthy epistles this morning and he did not not look altogether pleased."

I'm struck by her words "we are living in an inspiring uncertainty." To me they convey her hopes for useful wartime service combined with all she did not know but hoped to discover. Her words symbolize so much of the anticipation Hill and her colleagues may have shared in the months before their arrival in France. It would be so powerful to have more of her ideas and impressions, particularly after the hard realities of hospital wartime service.

Thanks to the staff files and service records in the Grace Phelps Papers housed at the Historical Collections & Archives at Oregon Health & Science University, we know a bit about Evelyn Hill. She was born in South Dakota in 1884, graduated from the Bishop Clarkson Hospital Training School for Nurses in Omaha, Nebraska in 1905. She came to Portland in 1909 and worked in private duty nursing with patients in their homes. After Base Hospital 46 was disbanded at the end of January 1919 she served with the army of occupation and returned home, discharged from the Army Nurse Corps, in October 1919.

The Portland City Directory and the 1920 census help us round out Evelyn's family story, with help from the 1932 East Morrison Street the Oregonian reported above. Before her departure and on her return Evelyn lived with her mother Kate, a nurse and widow of Justus E, Hill, and her sister Mae, a stenographer for the law firm of Teal, Minor and Winfree.

Civilians Connecting with Base Hospital 46 Nurses: Gifts for the Travelers

As we've seen in previous posts, Base Hospital 46 personnel from Oregon in the First World War had large sums of money to raise. In addition to personal fundraising, local branches of the Red Cross and the fraternal organization the Elks helped to raise the necessary funds. Grace Phelps noted that the Red Cross also helped individual nurses purchase uniforms and equipment.

Several newspaper articles let us know that civilians were anxious to connect with Base Hospital 46 by furnishing particular items they believed they would need for their voyage to France and service there.

"Nurses to Mobilize Soon, Oregonian, January 18, 1918, 11.

In this January 1918 article we see that sisters Anne and E. L. Lang of The Dalles, Oregon sent 100 "comfort pillows" for the nurses. They seem like our own beloved travel pillows, don't they? "12 inches long and six inches wide, with a comfortable cover in dark blue, and arranged so that it could easily be changed [read wash!]" I would love to hear from anyone who knows about Mary Varney Lang, the woman in whose memory the sisters sent the pillows.

"Sweaters Gift to Nurses," Oregonian, July 13, 1918 4.

We learn from this Oregonian article that the Portland chapter of the Red Cross furnished a sweater to all of the nurses of Base Hospital 46. Given the emphasis on knitting for the war effort, it's likely that these were all hand made.

I'll have at least one future post about an additional gift to the Base Hospital 46 women -- this time curtains for their commons area at the base. And Grace Phelps, to our great fortune, chose to write the donor about what she could see beyond the curtains and in the commons.

Seven Base Hospital 46 Nurses With Early Assignments in the Fall of 1917

I've been blogging about the women of University of Oregon Medical School Base Hospital Unit 46 during World War I. In the last post I highlighted Chief Nurse Grace Phelps's challenges in recruiting and equipping women for the unit, with the "many and varied sad tales of the organization of the nursing personnel." Certainly one of these challenges came in November 1917 when the Red Cross "borrowed" seven of the nurses for assignment before Base Hospital 46 was ready to sail, part of a contingent of eight Red Cross nurses from Portland.

"8 Nurses Called," Oregonian, November 27, 1917, 8.

The Red Cross assigned the eight nurses to duty at the Presidio in San Francisco and at Camp Lewis near Tacoma, Washington. As the Oregonian reported it, a frustrated Grace Phelps reminded the seven who had signed on to Base Hospital 46 that they had to be ready for mobilization. It appears that Phelps accompanied them to the train station, "warning them as they pulled out that they were to hold themselves ready for an instant call for mobilization." She had worked so hard to gather the nurses needed, and now these were slipping away, if only for temporary duty. "You are merely lent at the call of the Government," she said. "Upon receipt of telegraphic notice you will be permitted to relinquish your duties immediately and report to the mobilization point of Base Hospital No. 46."

"Red Cross Nurses Who Left Portland Yesterday for Service at the Presidio of San Francisco, and Camp Lewis,"
Oregonian, November 27, 1917, 8.

A staff binder, part of the Grace Phelps papers at the incomparable Historical Collections & Archives at Oregon Health & Science University, gives us more information about the seven.

Those assigned temporarily to the Presidio were:

Emma Kern, a 1908 graduate of The Dalles Hospital Training School for Nurses with experience as a private duty nurse and with Good Samaritan Hospital.

Emma Kern, Grace Phelps Papers, Box 3, Binder 5, Base Hospital 46 Staff Files, Historical Collections & Archives, Oregon Health & Science University.  Courtesy Historical Collections & Archives, OHSU.

Helen Krebs, a 1914 graduate of the Multnomah County Hospital Training School for Nurses who had been Superintendent of the Raymond Hospital.

Helen Krebs, Grace Phelps Papers, Box 3, Binder 5, Base Hospital 46 Staff Files, Historical Collections & Archives, Oregon Health & Science University.
Courtesy Historical Collections & Archives, OHSU.

Letha Humphrey, a 1916 graduate of the Multnomah County Hospital Training School for Nurses and Surgical Nurse and Assistant at the Multnomah County Hospital.

Letha Humphrey, Grace Phelps Papers, Box 3, Binder 5, Base Hospital 46 Staff Files, Historical Collections & Archives, Oregon Health & Science University. Courtesy Historical Collections & Archives, OHSU.

 The other four Base Hospital 46 nurses were assigned to Camp Lewis. They were:

Louise Summers, a 1915 graduate of the Good Samaritan Hospital Training School for Nurses with experience as a private duty nurse.

Louise Summers, Grace Phelps Papers, Box 3, Binder 5, Base Hospital 46 Staff Files, Historical Collections & Archives, Oregon Health & Science University. Courtesy Historical Collections & Archives, OHSU.

Rita Mayse, a 1915 graduate of St. Vincent's Hospital Training School for Nurses with experience as both a private duty nurse and a with hospital floor duty.

 Rita Mayse, Grace Phelps Papers, Box 3, Binder 5, Base Hospital 46 Staff Files, Historical Collections & Archives, Oregon Health & Science University. Courtesy Historical Collections & Archives, OHSU.

Sadie Hubbard, a 1915 graduate of St. Vincent's with private duty nursing experience.

 

Sadie Hubbard, Grace Phelps Papers, Box 3, Binder 5, Base Hospital 46 Staff Files, Historical Collections & Archives, Oregon Health & Science University. Courtesy Historical Collections & Archives, OHSU.

Marjorie MacEwan, a 1916 graduate of Good Samaritan Training School for Nurses who had worked as a private duty nurse, an X-Ray laboratory assistant, and before her nursing training as a private secretary.

 Marjorie MacEwan, Grace Phelps Papers, Box 3, Binder 5, Base Hospital 46 Staff Files, Historical Collections & Archives, Oregon Health & Science University. Courtesy Historical Collections &Archives, OHSU.

The Oregonian account of their departure tells us something about how Grace Phelps felt about the situation but didn't record how these seven women felt. I would give a great deal to know if they were excited, nervous, anxious for adventure, or all three. 

-->

More Getting Base Hospital 46 Ready for Service: Grace Phelps's Challenging Recruitment Tasks

Grace Phelps, R.N., Superintendent of Nurses at Multnomah County Hospital in Portland, served as Chief Nurse for Base Hospital 46 for most of its existence in the US and in France from 1917 to early 1919. A wonderful online exhibit from the Historical Collections & Archives at Oregon Health & Science University "Grace Phelps, R.N. -- A Reverie in Sepia" has more on the life and work of this remarkable Oregon woman.

I'm posting about Base Hospital 46, one of the many hospital units organized around university and civilian hospitals prior to and in the early months of the US entry into the war. Phelps had the complicated and challenging task of recruiting nurses and female staff members (stenographers, dieticians and laboratory technicians) for the base hospital unit. Before the unit sailed for France in the summer of 1917 the Red Cross called for 50, then 65, then 100 nurses to staff the unit.

"Prominent Figures in Base Hospital 46, Soon to See Service in France," Oregonian, March 17, 1918, Section 1, 14.

In the midst of this process the Oregonian published an article about the preparations featuring photos of chief surgeon Robert C. Yenney, longtime faculty member at the University of Oregon Medical School (now OHSU) and chief nurse Grace Phelps. It's interesting to think about the extent to which staff members and readers may have seen this as a professional partnership with nurses as a vital part of the unit.

The article that accompanied this image answered a question that I had about the unit -- just how did the projected size of Base Hospital Unit 46 compare with the size of hospitals in Portland at the time?

"Base Hospital 46 Awaiting Its Call," Oregonian, March 17, 1918, Section 1, 14.

 According to the Oregonian article, the projected Base Hospital 46 unit would be more than twice the size of Portland's two major hospitals, Good Samaritan and St. Vincent's Hospital, combined.

The section titled, "The Nurses Trip Overseas," in Otis Wight et al, On Active Service with Base Hospital 46, 55-58 is not attributed to an author, but it appears that Grace Phelps authored it. She starts with a section that hints at some of the challenges she faced in recruitment.

Otis Wight et al., On Active Service with Base Hospital 46 (Portland, OR: Arcady Press, 1920)

She received, she said, "all sorts of applications" from women anxious to show their patriotism and to "get to France." She had to go through these with attention to Red Cross/Army Nurse Corps Reserve Nurse requirements for age, marital status, and ability to meet the physical requirements of the job, and that narrowed the field. More in a later post about vaccinations, health, and illness in France, something she mentions briefly here.

It's important to note that Phelps addressed the question of finances here. In addition to raising funds for the unit discussed in a previous post, nurses were expected to furnish their own clothing and uniforms. Phelps was sensitive to this, writing here that "Many nurses who had family responsibilities found they could not meet this expense." The Portland chapter of the Red Cross assisted with these expenses, making it possible to meet the quota of nurses needed.

Phelps's concluding sentence in this section speaks volumes about the task but without the detail we crave: "Many and varied sad tales of the organization of the nursing personnel of our unit could be told, but we have learned to avoid sad stories." Additional research from the Phelps papers reveals some of these "sad tales" for staffing of nurses and female personnel, including a charge of espionage in one case, but I have to save some of the details for my upcoming book!

The Oregonian published a list of the basic professional requirements for nurses to serve in a base hospital unit (added to those Phelps discussed above). They reflect the growing professionalization of nursing education and licensing/registration by 1917, and we'll end with those today:

"Red Cross Appeals to Nurses to Enroll for Duty," Oregonian, July 29, 1917, Section 3, 5.

Getting Base Hospital 46 Ready for Service -- Funding and Martha Randall

More on the women personnel of Base Hospital 46 in World War I -- Martha Randall, R.N.

In the summer and fall of 1917 personnel of Base Hospital 46 from the University of Oregon Medical School were faced with a fund-raising challenge. The national Red Cross required each base hospital to raise enough funds to equip the unit, initially estimated at $42,000 (about $1 million in today's dollars adjusted for inflation). This at a time when the nation was also asking residents to buy liberty bonds, contribute to the Red Cross and other organizations, and when prices were rising.

"Hospital Unit Seeks Fund," Oregonian, October 12, 1917, 7.

Base Hospital officials did something that may sound familiar to some of us -- they asked each person who had volunteered for service with the unit to raise money -- $5 per person, almost $100 in today's dollars.

"Woman's Clubs -- First Meeting of the Fortnightly Club," Oregonian, September 30, 1918, Section 3, 12.

At least one of the women of Base Hospital 46 used her networks to publicize the work of the base hospital, and almost certainly to help raise these funds. Within the week Martha Randall went to the Fortnightly Club (a women's service organization) to speak and likely to ask for support.

Martha Randall, Grace Phelps Papers, Binder 5 Box 3 Historical Collections & Archives, OHSU. 
Used with permission by Historical Collections & Archives, OHSU.

Martha Randall, R.N. was in the midst of a career in social medicine. She was an assistant to Lola Baldwin, Portland's first police matron in the Women's Protective Division, served as Eugene's policewoman in 1913, and returned to police work in Portland in 1916. After the war she took over as head of the Portland Woman's Protective Bureau when Lola Baldwin retired (first as interim, then as head).

"New Head Appointed for Women's Protective Division," Oregonian, April 30, 1918, Section 1, 16.

So, did Base Hospital unit volunteers get their crowdfunding to work??

"Hospital Gets Funds," Oregonian, October 12, 1917, 7.

In addition to whatever individual funds staff members like Randall were able to raise, the state Red Cross put in $20,000 and asked local chapters to match those dollars. The fraternal organization the Elks pledged from $30,000 to $60,000. Base Hospital 46 had the money. And it's why some sources refer to Base Hospital 46 as the Elks and Red Cross Base Hospital from Oregon.

Finding the Oregon Women of Base Hospital 46 in France during World War I

The centennial commemoration of the beginning of World War I in 1914 began world-wide this past summer and as we prepare for the centennial of the US preparation in the conflict (April 1917 to November 1918) we have many available resources. A most interesting group of Oregon women are the nurses and civilian personnel who served with Base Hospital 46 in Bazoilles-sur-Meuse, France.

The most detailed source we've had for Base Hosptial 46 has been Otis Buckminster Wight, Donald Macomber, and Arthur S. Rosenfeld, eds., On Active Service with Base Hospital 46 U.S.A. March 20, 1918 to May 25, 1919 (Portland, Oregon: Arcady Press, 1920) available in digital format from the Library of Congress. This compilation details the personnel and history of various portions of the unit, with some important information about the experiences of nurses and civilian women.

But now we can investigate much more about the women on staff, thanks to materials from the wonderful Historical Collections & Archives at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland  the Grace Phelps Papers (Accession 2010-005); the Eleanor Donaldson Collection (Accession 2008-020), including personnel information and some correspondence. And materials from Record Group 112, Army Nurse Corps Historical Data File 1898-1947 at the U.S. National Archives contain narratives written by several women from Base Hospital 46 that did not make it into Otis Wight's On Active Service. We can now hear more of their voices and analyze their specific experiences in much more detail. I'll share some of this information with you in upcoming posts.
 

Some additional materials from HC&A at OHSU include the Base Hospital 46 Collection (Accession 2004-026 John Guy Strohm Scrapbook: Base Hospital 46); and the Otis B. Wight – Base Hospital 46 – Glass Plate Negative Collection (Accession 2006-012). Many thanks to Archivists Maija Anderson, Max Johnson and Archivist Emerita Karen Peterson for their support with my research in these collections. OHSU has a wonderful online exhibit about Grace Phelps, R.N., the chief nurse for Base Hospital 46 through January 1919: "Grace Phelps, R.N.--A Reverie in Sepia." Another published work is Colonel Joseph H. Ford, M.C., Administration, American Expeditionary Force, Vol. 2, The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War (Washington, D.C.L Government Printing Office, 1927) available in digital format from the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Let's start with some context. Beginning in 1916, before the United States entered the war, doctors and nurses in the U.S. began to organize base hospital units associated with civilian hospital or schools of medicine to prepare for wartime medical service. Nurses enrolled as reserve nurses with the Red Cross. The idea, according to organizers George Crile, M.D. of Cleveland and William J. Mayo, M.D. of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, was to capitalize on the working relationships already in place at these institutions, to create a full staff, and to practice and learn together (See Kimberly Jensen, Mobilizing Minerva: American Women in the First World War [Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008] 125-129.) 

In Oregon, faculty physicians at the University of Oregon Medical Department (now OHSU) in Portland began to organize in May 1917 and mobilized for service in May 1918. Dr. Robert C. Yenney was chief of medical services and Grace Phelps, R.N., Superintendent of Nurses at Multonomah Hospital, was chief nurse. The unit arrived at Bazoilles-sur-Meuse on July 2, 1918 and the unit served until the end of January 1919 (See Wight, On Active Service, Ford, Medical Department, 672-3, and "Reverie in Sepia").

Bazoilles-sur-Meuse is located in Northeastern France, as this Google Map shows:

Base Hospital 46 became part of an extensive, combined hospital center that included six other base hospital units (units 18, 42, 60, 79, 81, 116). For Base 46 alone hospital capacity was 1,000 beds in barracks and 1,000 in tents with some 300 more in tents possible in crisis shifts. The Bazoilles-sur-Meuse complex of hospitals had a crisis capacity over 13,000. Images from The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War give us a sense of the scope and environment the women of Base Hospital 46 experienced.

Outline Map of France Showing Fixed Hospital Center, Medical Department US Army WWI, Vol. 2, facing p 288.

 

 

Two images gives us a sense of the massive complex, with both barracks and tents, of the hospital center of which Base Hospital 46 was a part.

View of Bazoilles Hospital Center, Medical Department US Army WWI, Vol 2, p 238

General Layout Hospital Center Bazoilles, Medical Department US Army WWI, Vol 2, p 261

 

 

Two more images give us a sense of the specific spaces of Base Hospital 46, a "Type A" hospital.

General Layout of Hospital Unit Type A, Medical Department US Army WWI, Vol 2 p 242

 

Nurses Quarters Type A Base Hospital, Medical Department US Army WWI, Vol 2 p 246

More on the women of Base Hospital 46 in upcoming postings.

Esther Lovejoy a Candidate for Oregon's Statuary Hall

Esther Pohl Lovejoy is one of the "worthy" historical figures in Oregon history to be considered for a place in the Oregon section of Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C.


The fourth grade students at The Madeleine School in Portland, directed by their teacher Ms. Slavik, created interviews with the candidates for Oregon's representatives to Statutory Hall. Students took he roles of interviewers and historical subjects for the filmed interviews, posted to a blog.

The student interview with Esther Pohl Lovejoy is well worth the visit: http://oregonstatues.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/esther-pohl-lovejoy/

Congratulations students and Ms. Slavik for your explorations of Oregon history!