Clelia Duel Mosher papers, 1898-1937

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Summary

Creators:
Mosher, Clelia Duel, 1863-1940
Abstract:
Correspondence, writings, office files, photographs, and postcards, relating to relief work of the Red Cross in France from 1917 to 1919, and to the promotion of health education for women in the United States. Includes correspondence with Lou Henry Hoover.
Extent:
7 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize folder, memorabilia (2.4 Linear Feet)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Clelia Duel Mosher Papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

The Clelia Duel Mosher papers relate to child welfare and other relief work performed by the American Red Cross in France during World War I, women war workers, and conditions in France in 1918. They also provide limited information about medical views of women's physical abilities in the 1910s and 1920s.

Mosher was Medical Investigator for the American Red Cross Children's Bureau, which provided medical care for children whose lives were disrupted by World War I. Mosher helped open a dispensary at Corbeil, establish a hospital at Limoges, and enlarge the Preventorium for Boys at Tumiac; she also took a convoy of sixty children from Paris to Evian during the bombardment of Paris. Much of her work involved inspecting and reporting on conditions at dispensaries, hospitals, schools, and other facilities, as well as some individual families in need. Her reports, in memorandum form in the American Red Cross File, describe conditions and itemize needs. While focused on institutions serving children, some reports also include general information about adults, families, communities, and public health.

The Correspondence series, in particular the letters Mosher regularly wrote to her mother Sarah Burritt Mosher, provides anecdotes about welfare work in France and general information about life in wartime France. The Speeches and Writings series includes a number of war sketches based on Mosher's experiences.

Mosher also served as an official photographer for the American Red Cross. More than 200 prints (including many duplicates) of American Red Cross personnel and activities are included in the Photographs and Postcards series. It is presumed that Mosher took many of these photographs. However, most of the prints are not identified by name of photographer or subject. The bulk of the circa 340 postcards relate to France and depict tourist sites, scenes of war damage, wartime posters, and health messages printed by the American Red Cross.

Some information about Mosher's work on women's athletics and physical education may be found in the Speeches and Writings series. Additional information is available in the Correspondence series, particularly with Lou Henry Hoover, who was Vice President of the National Amateur Athletic Federation of America in the early 1920s. Topics covered include apparel, competitive sports, menstruation, and muscular strength.

Additional papers of Clelia Duel Mosher, including the bulk relating to research work on women's physical education, are housed at the Stanford University Archives (Collection Number SC 011).

Biographical / historical:
Date Event
1863 December 16
Born, Albany, New York
1893
A.B, zoology, Stanford University
1894
A.M., physiology, Stanford University
1900
M.D., Johns Hopkins University
1910
Assistant Professor, personal hygiene, and Medical Advisor of Women, Stanford University
1917-1919
Medical Investigator, Children's Bureau, and subsequently Assistant/Associate Medical Adviser, Bureau of Refugees, American Red Cross, Paris
1923
Associate Professor, Stanford University
1928
Professor, Stanford University
1929
Professor emeritus, Stanford University
1940
Died, Palo Alto, California
Acquisition information:
Acquired.
Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Box OCM18 may not be used without permission of the Archivist. The remainder of the collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Clelia Duel Mosher Papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US
Contact:
(650) 723-3563
hooverarchives@stanford.edu
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