American women's voluntary services

The American Women’s Voluntary Services 02/18/2013

by Jennifer Nason This month Museum Textile Services is lucky enough to work with a prized piece of American history. We are conserving a large group of WWII women's uniforms and accessories for the permanent collection at Wheaton College.

Three World War Two AWVS members in uniform.

The American Women’s Voluntary Services, or AWVS, was founded in January 1940.

Its founders were intelligent and wealthy international socialites that based the AWVS on an English counterpart of the Women’s Voluntary Services. The founders believed that the United States would surely enter the ever growing war, and thus they formed the American Women’s Voluntary Services as a way to prepare the country for the war.

The formation of the group was believed to be premature, as the AWVS was originally thought of as suspicious and an alarmist group.

A line of women displaying all of the clothing and accessories in the Wheaton College AWVS collection.

Nonetheless, when Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 the AWVS already had about 18,000 members. During the war years the number of AWVS members increased dramatically to 325,000. The members provided a variety of services and support; they sold war bonds, and delivered messages, they drove ambulances, trucks, cycle corps and dog-sleds, they also worked in navigation, aerial photography, aircraft spotting, and fire safety.

Chesterfield cigarette ad featuring a well-dressed AWVS volunteer.

AWVS promotional advertisement.

When the War ended in 1945, the American Women’s Voluntary Services was disbanded. It had accomplished its goal as a service and support provider throughout the war. Most of the members were normal women that spent large amounts of their time away from their homes and loved ones. However, some of these women had famous names, such as Hattie McDaniel, Joan Crawford, and Betty White. Regardless of who these women were, their part in the American Women’s Voluntary Services changed the face of the American home front.

Stay tuned for another blog about our conservation treatment of Wheaton College's AWVS collection.