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Title: Clelia Duel Mosher papers
Date (inclusive): 1898-1937
Collection Number: XX249
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
7 manuscript boxes
(2.4 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, writings, office files, photographs, and postcards, relating to relief work of the Red Cross in France from
1917 to 1919, and to the promotion of health education for women in the United States. Includes correspondence with Lou Henry
Hoover.
Creator:
Mosher, Clelia Duel, 1863-1940
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired.
[Identification of item], Clelia Duel Mosher Papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
| 1863 December 16 | Born, Albany, New York |
| 1893 | A.B, zoology, Stanford University |
| 1894 | A.M., physiology, Stanford University |
| 1900 | M.D., Johns Hopkins University |
| 1910 | Assistant Professor, personal hygiene, and Medical Advisor of Women, Stanford University |
| 1917-1919 | Medical Investigator, Children's Bureau, and subsequently Assistant/Associate Medical Adviser, Bureau of Refugees, American Red Cross, Paris |
| 1923 | Associate Professor, Stanford University |
| 1928 | Professor, Stanford University |
| 1929 | Professor emeritus, Stanford University |
| 1940 | Died, Palo Alto, California |
The Clelia Duel Mosher papers relate to child welfare and other relief work performed by the American Red Cross in France
during World War I, women war workers, and conditions in France in 1918. They also provide limited information about medical
views of women's physical abilities in the 1910s and 1920s.
Mosher was Medical Investigator for the American Red Cross Children's Bureau, which provided medical care for children whose
lives were disrupted by World War I. Mosher helped open a dispensary at Corbeil, establish a hospital at Limoges, and enlarge
the Preventorium for Boys at Tumiac; she also took a convoy of sixty children from Paris to Evian during the bombardment of
Paris. Much of her work involved inspecting and reporting on conditions at dispensaries, hospitals, schools, and other facilities,
as well as some individual families in need. Her reports, in memorandum form in the American Red Cross File, describe conditions
and itemize needs. While focused on institutions serving children, some reports also include general information about adults,
families, communities, and public health.
The Correspondence series, in particular the letters Mosher regularly wrote to her mother Sarah Burritt Mosher, provides anecdotes
about welfare work in France and general information about life in wartime France. The Speeches and Writings series includes
a number of war sketches based on Mosher's experiences.
Mosher also served as an official photographer for the American Red Cross. More than 200 prints (including many duplicates)
of American Red Cross personnel and activities are included in the Photographs and Postcards series. It is presumed that Mosher
took many of these photographs. However, most of the prints are not identified by name of photographer or subject. The bulk
of the circa 340 postcards relate to France and depict tourist sites, scenes of war damage, wartime posters, and health messages
printed by the American Red Cross.
Some information about Mosher's work on women's athletics and physical education may be found in the Speeches and Writings
series. Additional information is available in the Correspondence series, particularly with Lou Henry Hoover, who was Vice
President of the National Amateur Athletic Federation of America in the early 1920s. Topics covered include apparel, competitive
sports, menstruation, and muscular strength.
Additional papers of Clelia Duel Mosher, including the bulk relating to research work on women's physical education, are housed
at the Stanford University Archives (Collection Number SC 011).
Subjects and Indexing Terms
World War, 1914-1918 -- Civilian relief
International relief
World War, 1914-1918 -- France
World War, 1914-1918 -- War work
Women -- Health and hygiene
American National Red Cross
Hoover, Lou Henry, 1874-1944