Rare color photos: 1940s working women
Answering the nation's need for woman power, Mrs. Virginia Davis made arrangement for the care of her two children during the day and joined her husband at work in the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Ms. Grace Weaver, a civil service worker at the Naval Air Base, and a school teacher before the war, is doing her part for victory along with her brother who is a flying instructor in the Army. Weaver paints the American insignia on repaired Navy plane wings.
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Ms. Lorena Craig takes over a man-size job at the Naval Air Base in Corpus Christi, Texas. Before she came to work at the base she was a department store girl. Now she is a cowler under civil service.
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Riveter at work on Consolidated bomber, Consolidated Aircraft Corp., Fort Worth, Texas.
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Mrs. Doris Duke, a 26-year-old mother, is a civil service worker in the assembly and repair department at the Navy Air Base in Corpus Christi, Texas. She is seen reconditioning spark plugs.
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Women workers at the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, Calif.
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Working on black-out lamps to be used on the gasoline trailers in the Air Force, Heil and Co., Milwaukee, Wis.
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Lathe operator machining parts for transport planes at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant, Fort Worth, Texas.
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Wife of a disabled World War I veteran, Mrs. Cora Ann Bowen (left) works as a cowler at the Naval Air Base.
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One of the girls of Vilter Manufacturing Co. filing small gun parts, Milwaukee, Wisc.
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Formerly a sociology major at the University of Southern California, Mrs. Eloise J. Ellis (right) now "keeps 'em flyin'" at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas. She is a supervisor under civil service in the Assembly and Repair Department. It is her job to maintain morale among the women by helping them solve housing and other personal problems. With her is Jo Ann Whittington, an NYA trainee at the plant.
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Oyida Peaks riveting as part of her NYA training to become a mechanic at the Naval Air Base, in the Assembly and Repair Department, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Transfusion donor bottles, Baxter Lab., Glenview, Ill.
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Electronics technician, Goodyear Aircraft Corp., Akron, Ohio.
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Operating a hand drill at Vultee-Nashville, woman is working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber, Tennessee.
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Woman machinist, Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.
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Manufacture of self-sealing gas tanks, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio.
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A candid view of one of the women workers touching up the U.S. Army Air Forces insignia on the side of the fuselage of a "Vengeance" dive bomber manufactured at Vultee's Nashville division, Tenn.
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War production workers at the Heil Company for the U.S. Army Air Corps., Milwaukee, Wis.
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Women workers install fixtures and assemblies to a tail fuselage section of a B-17F bomber at the Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.
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Woman aircraft worker, Vega Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, Calif. Shown checking electrical assemblies.
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Pearl Harbor widows Mrs. Virginia Young (r) and Ethel Mann working in the Assembly and Repairs Department of the Naval Air Base.
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Working in the Assembly and Repair Dept. of the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Drilling on a Liberator Bomber, Consolidated Aircraft Corp., Fort Worth, Texas.
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A noontime rest for a full-fledged assembly worker at the Long Beach, Calif., plant of Douglas Aircraft Company. Parts for a heavy bomber form the background.
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Installing oxygen flask racks above the flight deck of a C-87 transport at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant, Fort Worth, Texas.
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A riveter and her supervisor in the Assembly and Repair Department at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Lorena Craig is a cowler under civil service at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Mrs. Eloise J. Ellis, senior supervisor in the Assembly and Repairs Dept. of the Naval Air Base, talking with one of the men, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Ms. Grace Weaver, a civil service worker at the Naval Air Base, and a school teacher before the war, is doing her part for victory along with her brother who is a flying instructor in the Army. Weaver paints the American insignia on repaired Navy plane wings.
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Mrs. Eloise J. Ellis has been appointed by civil service to be senior supervisor in the Assembly and Repairs Department at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Mrs. Virginia Davis, a riveter in the assembly and repair department of the Naval air base, supervises Chas. Potter, a NYA trainee from Michigan, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Lorena Craig is a cowler under civil service at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Assembly and Repairs Dept. mechanic Mary Josephine Farley works on a Wright Whirlwind motor, Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Ms. Mildred Webb, an NYA trainee at the base, is learning to operate a cutting machine at the Naval Air Base in the Assembly and Repair Department.
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Oyida Peaks riveting as part of her NYA training to become a mechanic at the Naval Air Base, in the Assembly and Repair Department, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Working in the Assembly and Repair Dept. of the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Mrs. Cora Ann Bowen (left) works as a cowler at the Naval Air Base; Mrs. Eloise J. Ellis is a senior supervisor in the Assembly and Repairs Department, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Part of the cowling for one of the motors for a B-25 bomber is assembled in the engine department of North American Aviation, Inc.'s Inglewood, Calif., plant.
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Working in the Assembly and Repair Dept. of the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Working in the Assembly and Repair Dept. of the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Learning to work a cutting machine, these two NYA employees receive training to fit them for important work, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Working in the Assembly and Repair Dept. of the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Working in the Assembly and Repair Dept. of the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Working in the Assembly and Repair Dept. of the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Enola O'Connell, 32, the only woman welder at Heil and Co., Milwaukee, Wis.
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Installing one of the 4 motors on the transport plane at Willow Run.
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War production workers at the Heil Company making gasoline trailer tanks for the U.S. Army Air Corps., Milwaukee, Wis.
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War production workers at the Heil Company for the U.S. Army Air Corps., Milwaukee, Wis.
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War production workers at the Heil Company for the U.S. Army Air Corps., Milwaukee, Wis.
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Learning how to determine latitude by using a sextant is Senta Osoling, student at Polytechnic High School, Los Angeles, Calif. Navigation classes are part of the school's program for training its students for specific contributions to the war effort.
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War production workers at the Heil Company for the U.S. Army Air Corps., Milwaukee, Wis.
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War production workers at the Heil Company for the U.S. Army Air Corps., Milwaukee, Wis.
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War production workers at the Heil Company for the U.S. Army Air Corps., Milwaukee, Wis.
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War production workers at the Heil Company for the U.S. Army Air Corps., Milwaukee, Wis.
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War production workers at the Heil Company for the U.S. Army Air Corps., Milwaukee, Wis.
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War production workers at the Heil Company for the U.S. Army Air Corps., Milwaukee, Wis.
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War production workers at the Heil Company for the U.S. Army Air Corps., Milwaukee, Wis.
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War production workers at the Heil Company for the U.S. Army Air Corps., Milwaukee, Wis.
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War production workers at the Heil Company for the U.S. Army Air Corps., Milwaukee, Wis.
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Installing oxygen flask racks above the flight deck of a C-87 transport at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant, Fort Worth, Texas.
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Two Navy wives, Eva Herzberg and Elve Burnham assemble bands for blood transfusion bottles at Baxter Laboratoriesm, Glenview, Ill.
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War production workers at the Vilter Manufacturing Company for the U.S. Army, Milwaukee, Wis.
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War production workers at the Vilter Manufacturing Company making M5 and M7 guns for the U.S. Army, Milwaukee, Wis.
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War production workers at the Vilter Manufacturing Company making M5 and M7 guns for the U.S. Army, Milwaukee, Wis.
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War production workers at the Vilter Manufacturing Company making M5 and M7 guns for the U.S. Army, Milwaukee, Wis.
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Checking of gasoline hose of gasoline trailers before being turned over the Air Force, Milwaukee, Wis.
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Unmasking and checking parts of the gasoline trailers that will be turned over to the Air Force, Milwaukee, Wis.
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Students at Washington High School at class, training for specific contributions to the war effort, Los Angeles, Calif.
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Cloe Weaver, mother of four children, employed as a helper at the roundhouse, Clinton, Iowa.
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Mrs. Dorothy Lucke, employed as a wiper at the roundhouse, Clinton, Iowa
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Worker putting finishing touches on the bombardier nose section of a B-17F navy bomber, Long Beach, Calif.
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Women are trained as engine mechanics in thorough Douglas training methods, Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.
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Women at work on bomber, Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.
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Grading oranges at a co-op orange packing plant, Redlands, Calif.
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Packaging oranges at a co-op orange packing plant, Redlands, Calif.
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Grading oranges at a co-op orange packing plant, Redlands, Calif.
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Operating a machine for putting tops on crates at a co-op orange packing plant, Redlands, Calif.
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Sorting and packing tomatoes at the Yauco Cooperative Tomato Growers Association, Puerto Rico.
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Mrs. Marcella Hart, mother of three children, employed as a wiper at the roundhouse, Clinton, Iowa.
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Mrs. Irene Bracker, mother of two children, employed at the roundhouse as a wiper, Clinton, Iowa.
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Mrs. Elibia Siematter working as a sweeper at the roundhouse, Clinton, Iowa.
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Mrs. Elibia Siematter eating after working as a sweeper at the roundhouse, Clinton, Iowa.
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Women workers employed as wipers in the roundhouse having lunch in their rest room, Clinton, Iowa.
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A woman during a salvage campaign in the yard of Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.
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