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Woman's Relief Corps President badges


KevinBeyer
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The Woman's Relief Corps, like all Civil War related Veterans' Organizations, had special badges that were used to denote officers at the various levels of their organization (local, state, national). This WRC President badge has blue enameled lettering, yet it is on a red ribbon with an FCL pendant with red enamel.

 

WRCPastPresident.jpg

 

I do not know if this ribbon has been replaced at some point, but I would have thought the blue lettering would suggest that its background ribbon should also be blue. Does anyone have any information regarding the red, blue, and buff (yellow/gold) color schemes?

 

Kevin

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Just like their Grand Army of the Republic brethren, the Women's Relief Corps issued Past President badges to their officers upon the completion of their term in office. This is an example of one such token of affection.

 

WRC_JuliaCarwathPastPresident1923.jpg

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I do not recall where on the web I located this picture, but I copied it as it shows WRC members wearing their insignia. (If the owner of this image reads this and wants it removed, please notify me and I will do so immediately.)

 

zn112.JPG

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  • 1 year later...
The Women's Relief Corps, like all Civil War related Veterans' Organizations, had special badges that were used to denote officers at the various levels of their organization (local, state, national). This WRC President badge has blue enameled lettering, yet it is on a red ribbon with an FCL pendant with red enamel.

 

post-276-1214050555.jpg

 

I do not know if this ribbon has been replaced at some point, but I would have thought the blue lettering would suggest that its background ribbon should also be blue. Does anyone have any information regarding the red, blue, and buff (yellow/gold) color schemes?

 

Kevin

 

Thanks for posting these. I just purchased a small group of these and it has one of these president badges in there too.

It has a blue shield instead of the red shield and has no ribbon.

It has a Philadelphia makers mark on the back.

Are these President's pins made of gold?

The rest I have are bronze.

Thanks,

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Are these President's pins made of gold?

The rest I have are bronze.

Thanks,

 

Most of the ones I have seen have some percentage of gold in their content. If I am recalling correctly that percentage is somewhere between 10K and 14K. I've not seen any with higher concentrations than that.

 

If possible, would you be able to post a picture of the one you just obtained?

 

Kevin

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Kevin,

 

Think the Blue, Red, and Gold (Yellow or Buff) color system in the WRC, as well as all the GAR attached groups (SUVCW, DUVCW, LGAR and SUV Aux), follow the GAR system to indicate level in which office was held. Have seen and have in my groupings examples of the older, bronze officer title badges with all three ribbons. Past office holders wore a shield with initials FCL pendent from the top bar. As a result, all offices held in the local unit, state/dept. and national office could be indicated with an identical top bar, appropriate color ribbon, and common pendant. A very economical system.

 

Believe your unique badge, probably adopted in the 1910s or 1920s, is specific to Presidents only. Do not know of any other officer titles in this style badge. Consequently, I think the original owner of this badge was saying she was a local unit president and then held office at the state/dept. level, but was not the president at that level. She held and completed a lesser office and notes it with the red ribbon and red shield.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Below is the one I have. Looks the same as yours but has a blue shield.

It is heavy for being so small.

 

 

post-8808-1277153484.jpg

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Below are some more I obtained. Never knew they existed.

 

There is another President badge but this one is in bronze as are the rest of them here.

Also a S.V. President [senior Vice President?] , Press Badge, Chaplian badge, and Executive Board badge with the red ribbon.

 

These badges are larger than the gold President badge and measure about 3 1/2 inches from top to bottom.

 

There must have been a lot of people involved in this organization to need all of the these different badges.

 

 

 

post-8808-1277153836.jpg

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There must have been a lot of people involved in this organization to need all of the these different badges.

 

Oh, to be sure. The Woman's Relief Corps was a very large organization. I don't have any hard and fast numbers, but it was quite large in scope and required many people to manage the organization. It is still functioning today.

 

WRC_Logo.jpg

 

WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS

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Kevin,

 

Bishop and Elliott list the WRC having a membership in 1896 of over 138,000. But at the time of their book publication, the membership was 12,000. I have the WRC 1926 Convention publication and the National Secretary reports the membership at over 189,000 that year.

 

It appears that in the WRC Constitution and By-Laws, a member had to be wearing their membership badge during a meeting to vote on issues at that meeting. This would help explain the vast number of badges available in the marketplace if all members posessed a membership badge.

 

This is just my opinion on things, but where most men's groups design office titles around function and exclusivity, women's groups are functional and social. The many officer titles in some women's groups fill this social aspect.

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