The Women of the CCC

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) is remembered as an all male workforce, but women helped keep the Three C's rolling too. Below are some of the women who supported the Corps.

Above: Workers of the U.S. Quartermaster Corps, assigned to the CCC's Third Corps Area (Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and DC). The Quartermaster Corps, a branch of the U.S. Army, managed clothing, food, supplies, and various services. Photo from Civilian Conservation Corps, Official Annual, 1937, District No. 3, Third Corps Area (Direct Advertising Co., Baton Rouge, LA), used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Workers in the Finance Office of the District Headquarters for the Sixth Corps Area of the CCC (Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin). Photo from Civilian Conservation Corps, Annual, 1937, Sparta District, Sixth Corps Area (Direct Advertising Co., Baton Rouge, LA), used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Dorothy Burdette, a 19-year-old Apache woman and office worker in the Civilian Conservation Corps - Indian Division, San Carlos Reservation, Arizona, 1942. For more information about Ms. Burdette, see my blog post from December 1, 2020, "An American Indian Woman in the CCC, her U.S. Marine brother, and today's Burdette Hall building." Photo from Indians at Work, a publication of the U.S. Office of Indians Affairs, March 1942.

Above: Helan Lortz (left), clerk, and Helan Hayward, assistant clerk, U.S. Forestry Service, assigned to the Seventh Corps Area of the CCC (Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Missouri). The Forestry Service provided technical assistance to the CCC. Photo from Civilian Conservation Corps, Official Annual, 1937, Missouri-Kansas District, Seventh Corps Area (Direct Advertising Co., Baton Rouge, LA), used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Miss Bell was the sponsor for CCC Company 3477, Heflin, Alabama. I'm not exactly sure what sponsors did (and it does not appear that sponsorship occurred nationwide in the CCC) but I would guess that they welcomed CCC enrollees, informed them of area resources, and worked towards good relations between the CCC camps and surrounding communities. Photo from Civilian Conservation Corps, Annual, 1938, District D, Fourth Corps Area (Army and Navy Publishing Co., Baton Rouge, LA), used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Miss Keith sponsored CCC Company 3482, Alexandria, Alabama. Company 3482 engaged in soil conservation work - planting trees, terracing, diversion ditches, etc. Photo from Civilian Conservation Corps, Annual, 1938, District D, Fourth Corps Area (Army and Navy Publishing Co., Baton Rouge, LA), used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Ms. Martin sponsored CCC Company 3490, Calhoun City, Mississippi. Company 3490 engaged in extensive firefighting work. Photo from Civilian Conservation Corps, Annual, 1938, District D, Fourth Corps Area (Army and Navy Publishing Co., Baton Rouge, LA), used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Nurses, doctors, and other healthcare workers, assigned to the CCC's Fort George Wright District, Ninth Corps Area (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Nevada, and California). Because much of the CCC's work was dangerous, camp first aid and district-wide medical services were vital. Photo from Civilian Conservation Corps, Annual, 1937, The Fort George Wright District (published by the CCC).

Above: Civilian personnel of the U.S. Army Adjutant General's Office, assigned to the CCC's Tucson District, Eighth Corps Area (Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Wyoming). The Adjutant General's Office took care of enrollee records, CCC education programs, and Corps-wide communications and coordination. Photo from Civilian Conservation Corps, Official Annual, 1936, Tucson District, 8th Corps Area (Direct Advertising Co., Baton Rouge, LA), used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Where did all the WPA sewing machines go?

Above: WPA sewing room workers in New York City, between 1935 and 1943. Across the country, WPA workers created 382 million articles of clothing for low-income Americans. They also made tens of thousands of other items, such as curtains, sheets, dolls, flags, and military items. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A WPA sewing room project in Washington, DC, April 1938. Notice that the sewing desks are more individualized. But... what happened to all the WPA sewing machines & desks after the WPA was discontinued? Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: Part of a longer newspaper article about the stalled fate of a large batch of WPA sewing machines. From The Des Moines Register, March 21, 1943, p. 38. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Where did the WPA sewing machines & desks go?

As the WPA neared its end, there was a lot of equipment to manage and find a home for. Many sewing machines (most or all of which were Singer brand) and desks ended up in private industry, especially the defense industry. But what about after the war? And what about those that didn't end up in the defense industry? Where did they go?

A review of newspaper archives shows that WPA sewing machines and desks had varied, interesting, and sometimes odd fates. Some were sold off to private citizens, for example, in 1948, the city of Waco, Texas, held an auction and one winner was "Lawrence E. Lynn... who bid $45 on six machines," about $562 in 2022 dollars ("Net Profit On Ex-WPA Sewing Machines Here," The Waco Times-Herald, May 20, 1948, p. 1).

In December 1942, sewing machines that had been used by the WPA in Indiana were sent to North Africa to support the U.S. armed forces there ("WPA Sewing Machines On Way To N. Africa," The Franklin Evening Star (Franklin, Indiana), December 14, 1942, p. 4).

5,000 WPA sewing machines apparently ended up in Brazil, for reasons not altogether clear ("Another Rosy Dream Goes 'Boom'," Shawnee News-Star (Shawnee, Oklahoma), March 21, 1944. p 4).

The Red Cross repaired broken WPA sewing machines and sent them abroad, presumably to distressed communities ("Red Cross Has Quota Of $7,000 For Funds Drive," The Lock Haven Express (Lock Haven, Pennsylvania), February 6, 1948, p. 1).

Some WPA sewing machines were destroyed. For example, in an article about a sewing machine repairman, "He says his biggest disappointment in business was when he had an opportunity to buy 800 WPA project sewing machines in Indianapolis and arrived with the money an hour after the warehouse where they were stored had burned" ("Women Flock to Argos Man, Now 70; He's the Sewing Machine Repairman," The Indianapolis Star, November 12, 1944, p. 57). 

Complete WPA sewing machines and desks seem rare today, especially ones with metal "WPA" tags on them. This author has seen only one. No doubt there are at least a few more, perhaps scattered across the globe without identifying tags, and thus with owners unaware of their machines's history of social welfare and the common good.

Above: An interesting sewing needle book, promoting FDR and the New Deal. Photo by Brent McKee. Unknown artist.

Above: A closer view of the middle graphic of the sewing needle book. Photo by Brent McKee. Unknown artist.

Above: Inside the sewing needle book. Photo by Brent McKee.

The Triple C's of Gettysburg

Unless otherwise noted, photos below are from C.C.C. Annual, 1936, District No. 1, Third Corps Area (Direct Advertising Co., Baton Rouge, LA) and are used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Enrollees of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1355, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1936. Companies 1355 and 385, in partnership with the National Park Service, restored, developed, and maintained Gettysburg National Military Park, 1933-1942.

Above: Music recreation at CCC Company 385, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Above: Company 385's band. Many enrollees came to the CCC with existing skills, such as music, athletics, carpentry, and farming. 

Above: Members of Company 1355 constructing a fence at Gettysburg National Military Park. The CCC and the National Park Service endeavored to restore the battlefield to its 1863 appearance.

Above: Company 385 on their way to a work site. Much of the CCC's work at the park centered around landscape architecture, such as lawn maintenance, transplanting trees, trail construction, and rebuilding at least one Union fortification (Culp's Hill). And the work was voluminous. For example, during their first four years at the park, CCC workers removed 1,341 tree stumps (Renaissance News, March 1937, p. 6).

Above: Classroom instruction at Company 385. Educational opportunities in the CCC were numerous.

Above: "Many athletic activities are carried on in [Company 385's] camp, such as baseball, boxing, quoits [similar to horseshoes], basket ball, volley ball and ping pong" (C.C.C. Annual, 1936, District No. 1, Third Corps Area, p. 199 (Direct Advertising Co., Baton Rouge, LA)).

Above: Boxers from Company 1355. Athletics, recreation, work projects, and good meals created fit bodies for the 3 million who served in the CCC.

Above: The cover of Renaissance News, Company 385's camp newspaper, December 1935 edition. The newspaper--created by the enrollees--contained poetry, humor, announcements, camp happenings, and more. Image courtesy of Center for Research Libraries.

Above: Part of Company 385. How was the quality of the CCC's work? In 1938, the National Park Service said that they wanted their Triple C's for another 10 years (“Lists Enough C.C.C. Work Here To Last 10 Years,” The Gettysburg Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania), August 6, 1938, p. 3).

The Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha Train, courtesy of the New Deal

Above: Part of a longer article about Hiawatha locomotive number 2, appearing in the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper, July 29, 1949, two years before number 2 and its sister locomotive, number 1, were retired and scrapped. Photo by Wisconsin State Journal staff, and article image from newspapers.com. Used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Hiawatha locomotive number 1 came out of the factory on April 30, 1935. It was funded from a loan to the Milwaukee Road (Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad), from the New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA), and constructed by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in Schenectady, New York. Locomotives 1 and 2 drew large crowds when they first emerged, and also when they went on an exhibition tour in May 1935, and even during their regular service runs. The  image above was scanned from a personal copy of the newspaper, and is used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: An ALCO advertisement, appearing in Railway Age magazine, November 14, 1936 edition (digitized by Google). The advertisement highlights the value of PWA financing for many railroads. Image used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Another ALCO / Railway Age advertisement, showcasing the Hiawatha's reputation for speed. The locomotives were oil-burning steam engines. They ran Chicago-to-Milwaukee and similar routes from 1935-1951. Image used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: This promotional ad shows the color scheme of the Hiawatha train. Unknown artist and source, scanned from personal copy, and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A Walgreen's ad appearing in the December 4, 1936 edition of the Messenger-Inquirer newspaper (Owensboro, Kentucky). Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Passengers on a Hiawatha train, in the last car--the parlor car--1935. Image from a 1935 Milwaukee Road timetable / brochure. Scanned from a personal copy and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

The New Deal's Glorious Green Diamond Streamliner

Above: On May 17, 1936, Audrey Jones, granddaughter of Jesse Jones, head of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), christened the Green Diamond before it made its inaugural and 294-mile run from Chicago to St. Louis. The RFC provided much funding for the Illinois Central, but funds for the Green Diamond came from the Public Works Administration (PWA). Image from the Dieterich Special-Gazette (Dieterich, Illinois), May 14, 1936, and newspapers.com. Used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: The Green Diamond at a railroad shop. The Green Diamond cost $425,000 to build, was quite fast, and had all sorts of innovative suspension and safety features. Unknown date, location, and photographer. Image scanned from a personal copy and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A postcard showing the colors of the Green Diamond and its 5-car arrangement - a power car, a mail & baggage car, two coaches, and an observation lounge. There were many colorful streamline trains during the 1930s, often financed by the New Deal. Why don't we have colorful trains today? Painting by Bob Lorenz, published by Audio-Visual Designs (Earlton, New York), image scanned from a personal copy, and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: The back of the postcard, explaining a few of the details about the Green Diamond.

Above: From late March through mid-May, the brand new Green Diamond toured many cities. Hundreds of thousands came out to see & tour it. Do we still do stuff like that today, with new trains and locomotives? Image from The Paducah Sun-Democrat (Paducah, Kentucky), April 20, 1936, and newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: The Green Diamond visits another town. Image from the Journal Gazette (Mattoon, Illinois), April 21, 1936, newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A page from a 1936 fold-out brochure on the Green Diamond, produced by the Illinois Central Railroad and Rand McNally. Scanned from a personal copy, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Passengers aboard the Green Diamond, from the same fold-out brochure as the previous image. Riders enjoyed air conditioning, extra wide cars, and meals served here, in the observation lounge, or at their regular seats. The Green Diamond ran the Chicago to St. Louis route from 1936-1947, then was renamed the "Miss Lou" and put on a New Orleans to Jackson, Mississippi route. In, 1950 the train was scrapped. As one writer put it, "a rather sad ending for a train that helped pioneer the modern diesel-powered passenger train at a time when times were rough for the country!" (Dan Gunderson, "The Green Diamond Story," The Mid-American, Illinois Central Railroad Heritage Association, Issue No. 1, Volume 2009, p. 23).

New Deal Comet

Above: The Comet train, of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company. The train was financed with a PWA loan. Its initial passenger service run was between Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. According to the train's Wikipedia page, it ran from 1935 to 1951 (in its later years it ran a more local route around Boston). Photographer and year unknown, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A photograph of passengers aboard the Comet. A 1935 brochure created by the New York, New Haven and Hartford boasted: "Inside are deep seats of extra width, low, without the need for footrests... indirect lighting... air-conditioning, thermostatically controlled, with the warmed or cooled fresh air entering the car through slots near the ceiling... rubber inserts and insulation to obviate noise and vibration, specially designed shock absorbers... in fact, every device of modern engineering has been employed to make The Comet a thing of grace and beauty... a luxuriously comfortable new-type train." Photo also from the brochure.

Above: A poster advertisement for the Comet, showing the "pencil beam" light used to alert motorists of the Comet's approach. The design of the Comet gave it "an unbelievable rate of acceleration" (David Dietz, "Dawn of the Diesel Age," The Indianapolis Times, September 7, 1935, p. 7). Unknown artist, scanned from a personal copy.

Above: From the New York, New Haven and Hartford's 1935 brochure. Scanned from a personal copy.

Above: The brochure touted the Comet's "Ultra-Modern" design and engineering. Scanned from a personal copy.

Above: The brochure's description of the Comet's speed and safety. Scanned from a personal copy.

Above: Part of a longer article about the Comet, from The Indianapolis Times, September 7, 1935, p. 7. The image seems to highlight the less-polluting nature of the Diesel-electric Comet vs. the traditional smoke-belching steam trains. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Meet the Bay Area Triple C's of Company 978

Unless otherwise noted, all photos, quotes, and information are from: Civilian Conservation Corps, Official Annual, Ninth Corps Area, Medford District, 1938 (most likely published by Direct Advertising Co., Baton Rouge, Louisiana).

Above (L to R): Ralph Zamacona, Richard K. Heronaka, and William P. Thomas, of CCC Company 978, Mount Shasta Side Camp, California, ca. 1938. Ralph Zamacona was born in 1919 and died in San Francisco in 2012. See his photo and biography, "Ralph Zamacona," Find a Grave (accessed 1-29-2023).

Above: A larger group of CCC enrollees from Company 978, at the main camp, "Camp Sims," near Castella, California, ca. 1938. "Company 978 has been a Bay Area outfit since its formation, over three-quarters of its personnel at all times calling San Francisco, Oakland and surrounding cities home."

Above: A graphic showing the general location of Camp Sims.

Above: Recreation at Camp Sims.

Above: Healthcare at Camp Sims - the infirmary. "Our safety record is outstanding and is jealously guarded by the boys... no enrollee has suffered a major injury on the work project or in camp."

Above: Perhaps the most important people at Camp Sims - the providers of food!

Above: Drivers at Camp Sims, ready to take their fellow CCC men to work sites or forest fires.

Above: Jordan G. Thompson, Senior Leader of Company 978. Normally, CCC enrollees served 6 months to 2 years. Some could serve longer, for example, skilled cooks. Others, like Jordan Thompson, showed "an aptitude [and] were advanced to leaders and assistant leaders at a higher rate of pay, which was $36 [per month] for assistant leaders and $45 for leaders" (Perry H. Merrill, Roosevelt's Forest Army: A History of the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942, 1981, p. 11). Thompson served in the CCC from May 1933 to 1938, and perhaps longer.

Above: Among the accomplishments of Company 978 were: "Construction Sacto River steel bridge at Camp Sims, construction Sims lookout and road, construction Bradley lookout and road, Sugar Loaf lookout and road, improvement Toll House road to Trinity County, construction Everett Memorial Highway on Mt. Shasta, fire trail construction Northern Shasta and Eastern Trinity Counties."