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AWVS (American Women's Voluntary Services)


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Since the Women's Services board has been a bit slow lately I'd like to put forth for your viewing pleasure.

 

This is one of the AWVS uniforms in my collection. It is the best conditioned one of the lot as it most likely

was a private purchase of higher quality material and superior dyes. Unlike the others I have that have

turned plum from sun fading or dye degradation, it still retains its original blue-gray appearance. This

photo was taken under poor lighting conditions and does not represent the true colour. The belt in the

picture is constructed from the same material as the uniform on one side, and is black leather on the

opposite side. At the time the picture was taken, I didn't know it was worn black side out; therefore it's

backwards. I recently acquired an AWVS sam brown belt to go with a uniform; however, as this one

came with its own belt I'll add it to one of my other uniforms.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Photo #1 : 3 ladies in AWVS uniforms.

Photo #2 : Chesterfield cancer-stick ad.

photo #3 : Actress Hattie McDaniels (Gone w' the Wind) in her AWVS tent ...err ... Uniform.

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Photo #4 : AWVS Sorority babes visiting the hospital.

Photo #5 : Joan Crawford has risen from the grave ( Blue Öyster Cult )

Photo #6 : War Bond Rally (sm pic).

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  • 2 weeks later...
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This example of an A.W.V.S. uniform shows a typical problem of poor dye materials.

The colour has degraded from a gray-blue to a nearly plum purple.

 

The collar Tabs, as well as the "State Headquarters" and "Chairman" indicate some level

of rank. Unfortunately material on the AWVS is sparse and I do not know whether there

are differing colours for differing ranks, or whether it's a generic officer's tab.

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Photo #1 : 3 ladies in AWVS uniforms.

Photo #2 : Chesterfield cancer-stick ad.

photo #3 : Actress Hattie McDaniels (Gone w' the Wind) in her AWVS tent ...err ... Uniform.

wow, now that is interesting. I did not know that Hattie McDaniels was in the AWVS.

I am working on a collection that has people on stamps that where in the service or contributed to the cause, and the patches they wore, if they did wear any This is a intersting factoid for that collection. Thanks, I missed it when I read thorugh the bios of the people on stamps,

 

I thought I had some obsurce people listed, but I sure missed this one.

 

S_E_Craig

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  • 1 year later...
fraukriegbaum
cool! What are the medal ribbons?

 

I don't have any i dea yet. I am trying to research this uniform but not much info in the net. I'm just a year in collecting women's uniform and don't have much time researching a lot of things like ribbon bars....the vey nice people here in this forum are always ready to help whenever i got questions and i appreciate that a lot.

Here's a close up pic, maybe one or two can help us...

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General Apathy
I don't have any i dea yet. I am trying to research this uniform but not much info in the net. I'm just a year in collecting women's uniform and don't have much time researching a lot of things like ribbon bars....the vey nice people here in this forum are always ready to help whenever i got questions and i appreciate that a lot.

Here's a close up pic, maybe one or two can help us...

post-6179-1254413655.jpg

 

Hi fraukriegbaum, nice looking grouping you have there, I was looking at your photograph of the buttons, can you confirm for me that they are gold painted wooden buttons.

 

I think this uniform and the insignia is shown in a reprint manual done by George Peterson of National Capitol Historical Sales, he used to be based in Springfield Virginia, if that's of help. ' American Women At War in WorldWar II, Vol I ' It's a thick book all about womens uniforms but only a couple of pages relate to yours.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

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fortworthgal

Nice uniform!

 

I have the book mentioned above. It is largely about the WAC and ANC, but it does have a section in the back featuring other services. These uniforms are also featured in Dressed for Duty Volume I by Jill Halcomb-Smith. I will look this evening and see if perhaps the ribbons are identified.

 

AWVS was a very large nationwide organization during WWII. Lots of celebrities were members. Here's a shot of Hattie McDaniel (Gone with the Wind) in uniform:

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Outstanding conditioned uniform! So many of these were manufactured with

substandard dyes at the time (wartime shortage) that most have a tendency

to turn plum coloured, as opposed to their original blue/gray.

 

If you haven't looked back into this forum's archive, at the enclosed link you'll

find a 2007 posting I made showing two of my AWVS uniforms.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...showtopic=11776

 

Msn

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fortworthgal

Okay, checking out Dressed for Duty here is some more info on AWVS:

 

The AWVS was divided organizationally: Motor Transport, Hospital Aid, Salvage Depot (supervising collection of scrap paper), Clerical Workers (they staffed OCD, State War Savings Staff, Draft Boards, and War Bond offices), Production Committee (selling war stamp corsages, making helmets & brassards for OCD), Training Classes - Food Series (training women in nutrition), Communications, Defense Photography, and Junior Auxiliary.

 

A location tab was sometimes worn under the uniform patch. (As on your uniform.) The uniform came in a blue fabric and a flecked denim-type blue, and existed in both winter and summer weights. It was worn with either a white or light blue cotton shirt and a navy blue tie. The visor cap had a colored band which indicated the wearer's status.

 

The cobalt blue with red stripe collar tabs on your uniform indicate members serving as administrators or on a unit executive committee. (This is a pre-1943 uniform.) A gray service stripe was awarded to members for each year of service and was worn on the lower left sleeve.

 

Celebrity members included Veronica Lake (her uniform bore a "Hollywood" location tab) and Joan Bennett.

 

I did not find information on the ribbons pictured. I am curious if there are any chevrons sewn/embroidered on the uniform's epaulets?

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Miscellaneous AWVS Material.

 

This page and the next were originally posted by HHBOOKER2 in a different topic.

They are excerpts from 1943 American Women in Uniform by Mary Steele Ross P24-25.

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This is the epaulet region of one of my uniforms (this particular one has faded to a nearly plum colour due to the substandard

dyes available on the civilian market. ). This is to show the chevrons which denote time of service.

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Oooops. ' Seems like I missed a few pages.

 

Once again these are courtesy of HHBOOKER2.

 

Pp 26-28.

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