American Women's Voluntary Services (AWVS) was the largest American women's service organization in the United States during World War II.[1] AWVS volunteers provided support services to help the nation during the war, assisting with message delivery, ambulance driving, selling war bonds, emergency kitchens, cycle corps drivers, dog-sled teamsters, aircraft spotters, navigation, aerial photography, fighting fires, truck driving, and canteen workers. Some of its work overlapped with the Office of Civilian Defense and the American Red Cross.[2]
A prayer card issued by AMVS during their efforts supporting U.S. engagement in World War II
Alice Throckmorton McLean founded AWVS in January 1940,[3] 23 months before the United States entered the war, basing it upon the British Women's Voluntary Services,[4] in order to help prepare the nation for the war. Most of the founders were wealthy internationalist women, and its headquarters was in New York City, making America's isolationists suspicious of AWVS. Others saw the organization as being alarmist.
AWVS also encountered resistance because some men did not want women working. Despite these concerns, AWVS had about 18,000 members by the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.[3] Eventually over 325,000 women were trained by AWVS.[4]Doris Ryer Nixon founded the California chapter in August 1941 and became AWVS's national vice president.[5][6][7]
The group sponsored units in parts of the U.S. with heavy African, Chinese, and Hispanic American populations,[3][4] which was met with media criticism. By 1944, despite hundreds of thousands of volunteers and large efforts to help win the war, AWVS was accused of being lazy; its leaders decided to disband the organization at the end of World War II.[3]
AWVS inspired other volunteer service groups, such as "Laguna Cottages for Seniors".[5]
↑ "Blanche Nixon to Make Debut". Los Angeles Times. December 18, 1941. Retrieved 2010-03-22. Blanche Nixon, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stanhope Nixon of ... Cold Spring Road, Montecito, a freshman at Stanford, will be formally to society at the San ...
↑ "Social Notes," The New York Times 1922-03-23 (announcing birth) and "Died," The New York Times, 1922-05-23 (announcing death).
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