Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections

Title: Leslie A. Rambo autograph album

Creator: Rambo, Leslie A.

Identifier/Call Number: Biomed.0360

Physical Description: 1 unknown (1 album)

Date: 1918

Language of Material: English .

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UCLA Catalog Record ID: 7374985 

"An album of original drawings, sentiments, reflections, and recollections by British, Canadian, and American soldiers billeted at the 16th Hospital--specifically, in the 17th Ward, under the care of 'Sister Rambo' (and her colleague, 'Sister Baird'). Prepared as a keepsake for the nurse and kept by or presented to her. The album includes 35 original drawings--including 14 original captioned cartoons--and over 67 entires from various soldiers. Most of the inscriptions are signed, with the soldier's rank and sentiment noted--with at least 38 British and Scottish soldiers, 14 Canadians, and 11 Americans (another 22 did not have any designations). Entries were principally made in the late summer and early fall of 1918. from the biographical information it is clear that many of the patients were wounded in the brutal battles of this time, including one noted as 'the third battle on the Somme, caught by Jerry's shrapnel.' Most of the humor is of the trench-warfare type, with jokes and cartoons about being in dugouts or fighting 'Fritz'. Numerous soldiers use a page or two to record, briefly, their military careers and experiences, such as Edward Corliss or George Hamilton, both of the American Expeditionary Forces, or Private W.F. Bellman of the 14th London Regiment who wrote a two-page poem to the nurses. Some of the soldiers attempted portraits of the nurses, with W.J. Waters drawing two women, entitling it 'Birds of Prey'."--Antiquarian Bookseller's description, 2014.