Descriptive Summary
Repository: University of Virginia School of Nursing, Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry
Title: Claire Elizabeth Fearn Papers
Physical Characteristics: 1.0 linear feet; 2 boxes
Language: English
Collector: Claire Elizabeth Fearn. Donated by her great niece, Laura Henderson.
Biographical Information
Captain Claire E. Fearn served as an active duty nurse in the U.S. Army during World War Two, and subsequently as a Nurse Corps reservist until 1954, when she received an honorable discharge at age 45 per Army regulations. Fearn spent all of her post-war career with the Veterans’ Administration and at her retirement in 1973 held the position of head nurse at the V.A. Hospital facility in Palo Alto, California.
The fourth child of a British immigrant family, Fearn was born in Glencoe, Wyoming, in 1909. She completed high school in Evanston, Wyoming, and graduated from the Holy Cross Hospital School of Nursing in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1930. Before enlisting in the U.S. Army in July 1941, Fearn worked as a supervising nurse at Holy Cross Hospital, took on private duty nursing cases, and was staff nurse for a private otolaryngology practice in Salt Lake. She moved to California, and for three years was a pediatric ward nurse at the Sacramento County Hospital.
Certainly the most notable of Fearn’s professional experiences was her service in the Pacific theater of the world war, from 1942 to 1945. Beginning in Australia, at the 12th Station Hospital organized at Townsville, Queensland, Fearn also saw tours of duty with the 2nd and 3rd Field Hospitals in New Guinea in 1944, and with the 36th Evacuation Hospital, the 165th Station Hospital, and the 1st and 2nd Field Hospitals in the Philippines in 1944-45. In addition to patient care and her responsibilities as supervising nurse of the otolaryngology service, Fearn also supervised and instructed corpsmen and civilian nurses and attendants in a number of specialty services and in the general medical and surgical wards. She received the Bronze Star in 1945 for her exceptional devotion to duty in the Philippines campaigns.
Scope and Content
The Claire Elizabeth Fearn Papers principally comprise materials that document Fearn’s service with the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in World War Two, Pacific Theater. Included is the complete set of military orders and other official records generated during Fearn’s period of active duty. These trace her assignments and movements from California to Australia, New Guinea, and the Philippines, also listing commendations, property distributions, immunizations, pay and leave tallies. Fearn also assembled a small collection of keepsakes and souvenirs, letters, and insignia, along with a few items from her civilian life. By far the most striking component of the Fearn Papers is an extensive collection of photographs documenting virtually every posting and camp set-up, friends and colleagues on these assignments, and travels on leave. Some are identified with autograph annotations. These images offer a fascinating view into the life and interests of an Army nurse in the war years of the 1940s.
Series Description
Arrangement
The Fearn Papers are divided into two components, the documentary and photographic collections. The initial eleven document folders contain all of Fearn’s official military records, in chronological and subject groupings. The remaining folders contain personal items of military and civilian nature, and a military document envelope with Fearn’s nurse-corps and professional insignia. The photographs have been organized where possible by subject category or location, and general chronology.
Contents List
ACTIVE DUTY CERTIFICATE, WITH ORDER SUMMARIES, TRANSPORT DOCUMENTS, MILITARY IDENTIFICATION CARD.
1941/07/17-1946/03, n.d. Box-Folder: 01-001
COMMENDATIONS (2); CERTIFICATE OF MILITARY SERVICE (PHOTOSTATIC COPY AND ORIGINAL).
1943/12/01, 1945/07/14, 1946/07/17 [1948], 1963/07/20 Box-Folder: 01-002
U.S. ARMY SEPARATION QUALIFICATION RECORD, DETAILING NURSING RESPONSIBILITIES IN MILITARY AND CIVILIAN LIFE.
1946/07/17 Box-Folder: 01-003
COMMISSION CERTIFICATES FOR APPOINTMENT AS CAPTAIN IN THE ARMY NURSE CORPS (TEMPORARY, THEN PERMANENT).
1946/10/23, 1949/04/22 Box-Folder: 01-004
FINANCIAL, PROPERTY, PERSONNEL RECORDS.
1942-46 Box-Folder: 01-005
IMMUNIZATION REGISTER.
1942-45 Box-Folder: 01-006
MILITARY ORDERS: NOT INCLUDED IN RECORDS JACKETS.
1941/07/08-1946/03/15 Box-Folder: 01-007
MILITARY ORDERS: IN ORIGINAL RECORDS FOLDER AND JACKET (METAL CLIP REMOVED).
1942/07/22-1945/09/08 Box-Folder: 01-008
MILITARY ORDERS: CONCERNING RELEASE FROM ACTIVE DUTY, INCLUDES CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION WITH FACSIMILE SIGNATURE OF PRESIDENT HARRY TRUMAN.
1946/03/07-18 Box-Folder: 01-009
MILITARY ORDERS: CONCERNING APPOINTMENT IN THE OFFICERS’ RESERVE CORPS, WITH ASSIGNMENT TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA STATE ADMINISTRATION GROUP.
1949 Box-Folder: 01-010
MILITARY ORDERS AND CERTIFICATE CONCERNING HONORABLE DISCHARGE FROM THE U.S. ARMY.
1954/03/09 Box-Folder: 01-011
DIPLOMA: HOLY CROSS HOSPITAL SCHOOL OF NURSING, WITH GRADUATION ANNOUNCEMENT IN THE INTERMOUNTAIN CATHOLIC; PRAYER BOOK.
1930 Box-Folder: 01-012
BIRTH CERTIFICATE COPY; RETIREMENT DOCUMENTS FROM THE VETERANS’ ADMINISTRATION.
1936, 1973 Box-Folder: 01-013
KEEPSAKES FROM MILITARY SERVICE.
1942-43 Box-Folder: 01-014
ITEMS CONCERNING DISABILITY CLAIM FOR MALARIA.
1945-49 Box-Folder: 01-015
LETTERS.
1946, n.d. Box-Folder: 01-016
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE CONCERNING NURSES ON BATAAN DEATH MARCH; EDITORIAL CARTOON SATIRIZING MILITARY RULES.
1942/06/13, n.d. Box-Folder: 01-017
PUBLICATIONS: 1) SOUVENIR OF THE LAND OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS (BY THE U.S. ARMY FORCES IN AUSTRALIA); 2) GREAT PHOTOGRAPHS OF WORLD WAR II.
- 1942, 1964 Box-Folder: 01-018
INSIGNIA: MOST WORLD WAR II ERA AND FERN’S VETERANS’ ADMINISTRATION CAREER, IN DOCUMENTS ENVELOPE WITH FEARN’S NAME, RANK, AND MILITARY ID NUMBER.
n.d. Box-Folder: 01-019
PHOTOGRAPHS: FEARN PORTRAITS, CANDIDS, FAMILY (?).
ca. 1942-44, n.d. Box-Folder: 02-001
PHOTOGRAPHS: USS MT. VERNON: NEPTUNE’S COURT.
1942/07 Box-Folder: 02-002
PHOTOGRAPHS: TOWNSVILLE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA; INCLUDES 12TH STATION HOSPITAL.
1942/10-1944/01 Box-Folder: 02-003
PHOTOGRAPHS: NEW GUINEA; INCLUDES 3RD FIELD HOSPITAL, 2ND FIELD HOSPITAL.
1944/02-09 Box-Folder: 02-004
PHOTOGRAPHS: PHILIPPINES: LEYTE, PALO, CARIGARA, ZAMBOANGA; INCLUDING 36TH EVAC HOSPITAL, 1ST FIELD HOSPITAL, 165TH STATION HOSPITAL, 2ND FIELD HOSPITAL.
1944/10-1945/04 Box-Folder: 02-005
PHOTOGRAPHS: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS/INDIVIDUALS.
ca. 1942-45 Box-Folder: 02-006
PHOTOGRAPHS, LEAVE: AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND; SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES; BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND; SURFERS’ PARADISE, QUEENSLAND; PHILLIP ISLAND, VICTORIA: AUSTRALIA.
1942-45 Box-Folder: 02-007
PHOTOGRAPHS: GIFTS/DEDICATIONS.
1942, 1945, n.d. Box-Folder: 02-008
PHOTOGRAPHS: ON BOARD THE USS BRAZIL, AND OTHER LOCATIONS (TWO IDENTICAL PHOTOGRAPH BOOKLETS, ONE WITH AUTOGRAPH IDENTIFICATIONS).
1945(?) Box-Folder: 02-009
PHOTOGRAPHS: VETERANS’ ADMINISTRATION HOSPITAL AWARDS CEREMONY.
1961/06/23 Box-Folder: 02-010
NEGATIVES, BLACK AND WHITE: MISCELLANEOUS.
ca. 1942-44 Box-Folder: 02-011
PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINT ORDER ENVELOPES.
1944-45, n.d. Box-Folder: 02-012
DIGITAL MEDIA: DEGRADED KODACHROME PRINT, GROUP OF NURSES IN FATIGUES AT CAMP.
ca. 1942-44 Box-Folder: ECBCNHI STORAGE DRIVE
Notes
Access
No Restrictions
Use Restrictions
No Restrictions
Preferred Citation
University of Virginia School of Nursing, Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry, Claire Elizabeth Fearn Papers
Processing Information
Processed by Henry K. Sharp in 2018.