Bringing History Home

A top-notch mechanic, Mary Josephine Farley expertly rebuilds airplane engines. Although she is only twenty years old she has a private pilot's license and has made several cross-country flights, 1942. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 – 1962 [electronic resource]

Mis Gladys Theus, one of the fastest and most efficient welders at the Kaiser Company Permanente Metals Corporation yards near Oakland, Calif., is sticking to her job until final victory is won. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962 [electronic resource]

Building assault boats for U.S. Marine Corps. by women workers, ca. 1941. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962 [electronic resource]

Women are welders discuss the production of motor mounts and welded parts in a welding booth at the Inglewood, Calif., plant of North American Aviation, Inc. The plant produces B-25 ("Billy Mitchell") bombers and P-51 ("Mustang") fighter planes, 1942. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962 [electronic resource]

"White" & "Black" work side by side - North American Aviation Co. Plant. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962 [electronic resource]

"Secretaries, housewives, waitresses, women from all over central Florida are getting into vocational schools to learn war work. Typical are these in the Daytona Beach branch of the Volusia county vocational school," 1942. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962 [electronic resource]

“Chippers." Women war workers of Marinship Corp, 1942. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962 [electronic resource]

Riveter at Lockheed Aircraft Corp., Burbank, CA. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Record Group 86: Records of the Women's Bureau, 1892 - 1971 [electronic resource]

The hand that rocks the cradle can also rock the Axis. American women are rapidly taking their places on the industrial front. Here in this small factory, the owner's wife operates one of the machines making dies for incendiary bombs, 1942. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962 [electronic resource]

Women workers at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, turning out National and signal flags for the expanding Navy, ca. 1941. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962 [electronic resource]

Ensacola Hospital - Victory Nurses Aides, 1942. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962 [electronic resource]

Two grandmothers are keeping up the production schedule of the La Roe's family shop at Eustis, Florida, ca. 1942. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962 [electronic resource]

Both men and women man the machines which are turning out parts for America's bomber planes at Willow Run, Mich., ca. 1942. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962 [electronic resource]

"A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!!" 1943. US National Archives & Records Administration, item from Record Group 208: Records of the Office of War Information, 1926 - 1951 [electronic resource]

"HE'S WILLING, HE'S CAPABLE, AND WE NEED HIM - USE HIM!!" 1943. US National Archives & Records Administration, item from Record Group 208: Records of the Office of War Information, 1926 - 1951 [electronic resource]

At an eastern aircraft factory, Philip Leung, Chinese, Marcell Webb, Negro, and an unidentified White worker adjust the retractable landing gear of a pursuit plane on the final assembly line, ca. 1942. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962 [electronic resource]

From the aged and the youth, from the white and the Negro come the skills which will make America impregnable. A veteran employee in a eastern navy yard instructs a machinist apprentice in the operation of an important machine, ca. 1942. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962 [electronic resource]

Americans of various racial groups contribute to the war effort in a large eastern plant which produces propellers for military aircraft, ca. 1942. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962 [electronic resource]

"Americas answer! Production" 1941 – 1945. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Record Group 44: Records of the Office of Government Reports, 1932 - 1947 [electronic resource]

Produce for Victory! 1941 – 1945. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Record Group 44: Records of the Office of Government Reports, 1932 - 1947 [electronic resource]

WAAC. THIS IS MY WAR TOO, 1941 – 1945. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Record Group 44: Records of the Office of Government Reports, 1932 - 1947 [electronic resource]

SOLDIERS WITHOUT GUNS, 1941 – 1945. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Record Group 44: Records of the Office of Government Reports, 1932 - 1947 [electronic resource]

"WOMEN THERE'S WORK TO BE DONE AND A WAR TO BE WON NOW!", 1941 – 1945. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Record Group 44: Records of the Office of Government Reports, 1932 - 1947 [electronic resource]

"Good Work Sister. America's Women Have Met The Test", 1941 – 1945. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Record Group 44: Records of the Office of Government Reports, 1932 - 1947 [electronic resource]

THAT WAS THE DAY I JOINED THE WAVES, 1941 – 1945. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Record Group 44: Records of the Office of Government Reports, 1932 - 1947 [electronic resource]

"Become a nurse - Your country needs you", 1941 – 1945. US National Archives & Records Administration, Item from Record Group 44: Records of the Office of Government Reports, 1932 - 1947 [electronic resource]

"VICTORY WAITS ON YOUR FINGERS - KEEP 'EM FLYING MISS U.S.A.", 1941 - 1945