Cadet Nurse Corps Purse

The Cadet Nurse Corps was established on July 1, 1943. The corps was supervised by the United States Public Health Service (PHS) with a goal to train 124,000 young women as nurses during World War II. The war ended before the first Cadets graduated and few entered the military, but in its lifetime 1943-48, it was the largest training program in the History of nursing in the United States. This purse was owned by Mary E. Cartwright. (Sadly, I don't own the uniforms shown.)

Collection of Jennifer Whitehair