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[Photographs of U.S. Navy “Yeomen (F),” i.e. Female Sailors, Serving Aboard the U.S.S. Louisville.]

U.S., Mid-Atlantic Ocean, France, ca. 1917–1919. 88 real photo postcards, each approx. 11.8 x 8.6 cm, plus margins. 5 photos, 8 x 14 cm.

A captivating archive of real photo postcards documenting some of the first women to enlist in the U.S. Navy, known as Yeomen (F), pictured here aboard a troop transport ship traveling to and from Europe during the First World War; with additional images of other women on board as well as male sailors, and images of war-torn France.

While women served as nurses in the U. S. Navy as early as 1908, the first wave of female enlistment took place following the Naval Reserve Act of 1916, which was passed during WWI in response to the Navy’s critical lack of manpower and its need to fill clerical positions. The Act famously did not specify the gender of prospective naval enlistees, creating a loophole that led to the enlistment of women beginning in March of 1917—just prior to America’s entrance into the war. Shortly after the 1918 Armistice, the number of women in the Navy totaled 11,000—the majority of whom served as Yeomen (F) and carried out various administrative tasks. Popularly known as “Yeomanettes,” these pathbreaking women primarily occupied secretarial and clerical positions, but some also served as translators, telegraph operators, mechanics, recruiting agents, draftsmen, munitions makers, ship camouflage designers, and so on. Most yeomanettes worked stateside. However, five units of female sailors ventured to France with naval hospital units.

The present photo archive provides rare documentation of the mixed-gender crew of the U.S.S. Louisville, which made 6 voyages to return soldiers from France and England between April 1918 and Sept. 1919. Fourteen images included here document Naval women in uniform. These include individual portraits taken on board, eight of which picture one woman in particular, wearing a U.S.S. Louisville cap, who may have been the compiler of this archive. She and others are shown both in close-ups and posed with large ship’s guns, saluting, etc. In one she wears a sword. Evident throughout these photos is the newfound pride and apparent joy experienced by these women, who served their country alongside men. An additional nineteen images of women on board are included, most of whom were likely traveling to France for medical or humanitarian purposes. One group portrait depicts thirteen women of the YWCA posed on deck. Others show women in civilian clothes, generally in good spirits, sometimes engaging or relaxing with male soldiers or sailors. A baby makes two appearances, in a close-up and in a group shot. Sixteen photos document male sailors, mostly engaged in such recreational activities as boxing, playing cards, running, etc. Some thirty-two images capture the scene in France, with many depicting the destruction of buildings, including an image showing the damage to the American Memorial Hospital building.

In the summer of 1919, following the close of the war, the Navy began discharging women, the final yeomanette being released from service in 1921. The impact of the yeomen (F) would prove to be far-reaching: in opening America’s mind to the capacities of women their service not only helped to create a favorable environment for the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which granted women the right to vote, but also created a precedent for female service in the Navy as WAVES during the Second World War.

An appealing and historic photo archive documenting some of the first female sailors to serve in the U.S. Navy.

REFERENCES: Patch, Nathaniel. “The Story of the Female Yeomen during the First World War,” Genealogy Notes (Fall 2006, Vol. 38, No. 3) at archives.gov; World War I era Yeomen (F) at history.navy.mil.

CONDITION: Good, a few minor damages, some toning, rubbing, and small stains.

Item #5016

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