Army Nurses, Camp Lee, Virginia photograph

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
160 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Brenda Gunn
Phone: (434) 924-1037
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Restrictions:

This collection has been minimally processed and is open for research.

Preferred citation:

MSS 16952, Army Nurses, Camp Lee, Virginia photograph, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Summary

Extent:
0.0098 Cubic Feet 1 panoramic folder
Creator:
Max Rambod
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

MSS 16952, Army Nurses, Camp Lee, Virginia photograph, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains a panoramic photograph depicting the graduating class of Army Nurses Basic Course, No. 2, Third Platoon, photographed at the Quarter Master School, Camp Lee, Virginia, on April 10, 1945. The photograph shows 52 white female students and six male students arranged in three rows, flanked by five male officers. The women wear uniforms with ties, caps, and badges. Captioned text appears at the bottom center of the image, stating "Army Nurses Basic Course No 2 The QM School Camp Lee, Va., 10 April 1945 Third Platoon." The photograph was captured during the final months of World War II. The Quarter Master school had recently relocated from Schuykill, New York, to Camp Lee, Virginia, as part of an expansion of its operations during the war. By April 1945, over 57,000 women were serving in the US Army Nurse Corps. The photograph was taken from DeSouza Studio based in Petersburg, VA.

Biographical / historical:

The Quartermaster School had operated at Camp Lee since October 1941, when it relocated from Schuylkill Arsenal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where it had been housed since 1928 in increasingly overcrowded quarters.

The Army Nurse Corps had grown 942 nurses in June 1940 to a peak of more than 57,000 in August 1945. Formal four-week basic training for newly commissioned Army nurses had been authorized only in July 1943, when Lt. Gen. Brehon B. Somervell of Army Service Forces directed instruction in Army organization, military customs, field sanitation, defense against air, chemical, and mechanized attack, personnel administration, and property responsibility. The standard ANC basic-training centers were Fort Meade, Fort Devens, Halloran General Hospital, Camp McCoy, and Brooke General Hospital, though smaller detachments of the program existed, such as that at Camp Lee.

References

"The QM School — Past and Present." Quartermaster Foundation. Originally published in The Quartermaster Review, May–June 1946. https://quartermasterfoundation.org/the-qm-school-past-and-present/.

Sarnecky, Mary T. A History of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.

U.S. Army Center of Military History. "Highlights in the History of the Army Nurse Corps: Chronology." Accessed April 27, 2026. https://www.history.army.mil/books/anc-highlights/chrono.htm.

U.S. Army Center of Military History. The Army Nurse Corps. CMH Pub 72-14. Washington, DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History. https://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/72-14/72-14.HTM.

Acquisition information:
This collection was purchased from Max Rambod by the Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia on 6 March 2026.
Physical description:
Good
Dimensions:
folder measures 27 X 10 inches
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Nurses
Panoramas
Names:
Max Rambod