A Blog About Women Who Were Homefront Heroines: the WAVES of World War II
Everywhere WAVES went, the uniform was commented on. It was designed by couture designer Mainbocher. And the Old Gold , the yearbook from the Iowa State Teacher’s College, dedicated a page in its 1943 yearbook to what the WAVES wore.
The yearbooks come from the archives and special collections at the University of Northern Iowa.
It was a big change for students Iowa State Teacher’s College in fall of 1942. Imagine heading to campus and seeing a sea of uniforms. The Old Gold, the yearbook for the Iowa State Teachers College, showed how some of the residents in campus halls had changed, and how the Navy is keeping things “shipshape.”
The yearbooks come from the archives and special collections at the University of Northern Iowa.
The dining hall, singing and other WAVES activities made the pages of the 1943 Old Gold, the yearbook from the Iowa State Teacher’s College.
The yearbooks come from the archives and special collections at the University of Northern Iowa.
The Old Gold yearbook found some different faces in its classrooms in 1943. The WAVES boot camp was help on the Iowa State Teacher’s College campus until February of 1943 – and WAVES took their places behind the desks for training.
The yearbooks come from the archives and special collections at the University of Northern Iowa.
The 1943 edition of Old Gold gives a salute to the two groups training on campus. Iowa State Teacher’s College was the primary boot camp for WAVES (until February 1943) and Army men also trained there.
The yearbooks come from the archives and special collections at the University of Northern Iowa.
Check out the pages of the Old Gold. It’s the yearbook from the Iowa State Teacher’s College, now the University of Northern Iowa. The front of the yearbook show the new campus make-up: the coed, the Army man, and the Navy women. Both Army and Navy set up training bases on the campus.
The yearbooks come from the archives and special collections at the University of Northern Iowa.
It’s that time of year – when students head back to school. And so we’d thought we’d spend the next few days on a campus-based theme. What will the pages of the Old Gold tell us? It’s the yearbook from the Iowa State Teacher’s College, now the University of Northern Iowa.
We’ll peer into the 1943 and 1944 editions of the yearbook over the next few days.
The yearbooks come from the archives and special collections at the University of Northern Iowa.
If you’re heading for a trip this summer, you’re likely taking a suitcase or two. Could you find yours in these stacks and stacks of bags? Hope the WAVES didn’t have any lost luggage as they were heading from training to their permanent stations!
The photo comes from the National Archives.
Each month training facilities published their own newsletters. This is the July 1943 verision of Iowave, the base newsletter for the yeoman training facility at Iowa State Teachers College Cedar Falls.
It comes from the archives at the University of Northern Iowa.
WAVES in the dining hall during boot camp in Cedar Falls, Iowa, early 1943. They are (from left): Paula Weis, Ann Walus, Edna Brown and Esther Swenson.
The photo comes from the National Archives.
Hinges of History 