How Iowa helped lead the home front war effort—through the Red Cross
An in‑depth look at how Red Cross chapters in Iowa organized, produced, and distributed relief supplies for soldiers and civilians during World War I. This edition covers the national framework, the roles of the Woman’s Bureau and the Bureau of Transportation and Supplies, and the way chapters worked under centralized guidance to standardize hospital garments, dressings, and comfort items.
The book reveals the practical side of wartime volunteer work: how workrooms across towns became production hubs, how quotas steered chapter output, and how material shortages led to coordinated efforts with the War Industries Board. It also explains the nursing service, from enrollment standards to the creation of base hospital units and the integration of Red Cross nurses with the Army and Navy.
- How national and division bureaus guided supply production and standardization
- The rise of thousands of local workrooms turning out hospital garments, surgical dressings, and knitted items
- The nursing service, its enrollment rules, and the creation of base hospital units
- Campaigns to recruit nurses and to train new ones to sustain wartime needs
Ideal for readers of American war‑time social history and local wartime initiatives, this volume sheds light on how community actors helped a nation mobilize for victory.