Collections : [Barnard Archives & Special Collections]

This series consists of materials from two committees, the National Service Committee and the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies. The materials in this collection were the working files of the Barnard chapter of the CDAAA and were assembled by Helen Baker Cushman '42, the president of the Barnard chapter.

The records of the Barnard Unit of the American Red Cross that went to France as a Repatriation Unit from 1917-1919 included a detailed, typewritten account of their arrival in France and their efforts to establish a distribution center, and obtain and distribute goods to the townspeople. Members of this unit were Dr. Eugenia Ingerman '11, Leslie Gardiner '07, Edith Balmford '13, Mildred Hodges '12, Margaret Peck '14, Georgia Cerow '12, Katharine Darrin '06, Jessie Nottingham '10, and M. Helen Davies '16. Also included were a medical inventory, roster of villages served, inventory lists, receipts, donation inventory and shipping list, and correspondence between Miss Leslie Gardiner, the Director of the Barnard Unit, and many of the recipients of the generosity of the Barnard Unit. Additionally, a souvenir-type booklet of photographs shows the Ruins of Cambrai (one of their locations) with picture after picture of rubble caused by the war. In addition to the souvenir booklet of photographs of Cambrai, there are over 20 photos of the living quarters and everyday life events of the Repatriation Unit in France, separate photos of Dr. Ingerman, Mildred Hodges, and Margaret Peck, photos with the British Army Unit that provided assistance, and the surrounding war-battered area.

The most extensive documentation in the collection relates to the Barnard Boathouse Canteen. The records include a typewritten report of the organizational history of the Canteen (which opened on March 6, 1918) and the original committee members, the final report by the acting chairman when the Canteen closed on March 24, 1919, committee meeting minutes, the constitution of the Barnard Boathouse Canteen including an addendum submitted by the student workers, the policies, procedures and rules for the Canteen, correspondence soliciting donations from faculty and alumnae, financial reports, general correspondence, food department reports including detailed invoices, receipts for improvements to the building, two guest books recording the signatures of the soldiers who visited the Canteen from March 6, 1918 to March 18, 1919, several incomplete account books, a certificate acknowledging the contribution of the Barnard Boathouse Canteen, and ephemera such as admission tickets printed with directions, hours of operations, activities and costs of meals. There are three different images included in the photographs related to this collection – two photos of a group of soldiers and women on the Boathouse terrace with warships on the Hudson River in the background, and one interior photo of soldiers and women singing around a piano.

Documents that relate to the overall efforts of the Barnard College community include several Information Bulletins by the Columbia University Mobilization Committee for Women's Work (later renamed the Committee on Women's War Work), a government bulletin on War Work of Women in Colleges, a New York City Report of the Committee on Agriculture chaired by Dean Gildersleeve, a form letter calling for volunteers, and handwritten notes and a draft of a "Clearing House" resolution prepared by Virginia C. Gildersleeve, Dean of Barnard College and chairman of the Committee on Women's War Work, who was a major force behind the war relief efforts at the college. The photographs in the collection relating to the Columbia University Mobilization Committee for Women's Work/Committee on Women's War Work include a few photos of the Red Cross Work Room (with duplicates) and six photos that show the dignified celebration accorded French and American officers when they visited the Columbia campus in November, 1918. Personages identified in these photos include Columbia President Butler, Professors Crampton, Knapp, Braun, Baldwin, and Hirst, and undergraduate president Dorothy Brockway.