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Collection Veterans History Project Collection

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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: WAVES (Navy Women's Reserve)
  • Location of Service: Northampton, Massachusetts; New York, New York
  • Highest Rank: Ensign

View full service history

“In October 1944 when the Navy said it was ready for me and I said, ‘Take me,’ I was not consciously making a statement about race relations.” (Memoir, page 25)

In 1944, Frances Wills Thorpe, a young African American social worker from Pennsylvania, became one of the first two African American officers in the Navy’s WAVES (Women Accepted into Volunteer Emergency Service) program. Along with Harriet Pickens, she trained at Smith College, and then was sent to Hunter Naval Training Station in the Bronx, teaching Naval history to incoming recruits. For Thorpe, integrating the WAVES carried with it a sense of isolation that persisted throughout her time in the service. She recalls her Navy days in her memoir, which describes a life filled with achievement and adventure, including experiences such as befriending the poet Langston Hughes, living as an ex-patriot in Paris, and counseling battle-scarred veterans after the war.

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[ Untitled Memoir by Frances E. Wills Thorpe ]

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[ Photo Album ]

About this Item

Title

  • Frances E. Thorpe Collection

Names

  • Kent, Judith
  • Thorpe, Frances E. Wills
  • Flagler County Public Library

State of Birth

  • PA

Headings

  • -  Thorpe, Frances E.
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. WAVES (Navy Women's Reserve).

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Female

Race

  • Black or African American

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: WAVES (Navy Women's Reserve)
    • Location of Service: Northampton, Massachusetts; New York, New York
    • Highest Rank: Ensign
    • Dates of Service: 1944-1945
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Manuscript: Memoirs [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected 1998)
  • Photograph: Digital print [1 item] -- Panorama (collected 1944)
  • Computer File: CD [1 item] -- Multiple types of electronic files (collected 2005)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/37683

Cite as

  • Frances E. Thorpe Collection (AFC/2001/001/37683), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Kent, Judith, Frances E. Wills Thorpe, and Flagler County Public Library. Frances E. Thorpe Collection. 1944. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.37683/.

APA citation style:

Kent, J., Thorpe, F. E. W. & Flagler County Public Library. (1944) Frances E. Thorpe Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.37683/.

MLA citation style:

Kent, Judith, Frances E. Wills Thorpe, and Flagler County Public Library. Frances E. Thorpe Collection. 1944. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.37683/>.