Series 1: Correspondence, 1942-1979

This series contains correspondence written to and from Ninth General Hospital staff, New York Hospital employees, government officials, and military personnel. The most frequent correspondent within the collection is Marie Troup, head nurse of the Ninth General Hospital. Much of her correspondence, as well as correspondence between other members of the Ninth General Hospital staff includes information regarding administration of the hospital, expected arrivals of new recruits, requirements for physicians, surgeons, and nurses, and medical procedures and preparation.

Such correspondence also includes updates from the home front, thank you notes, congratulatory letters, birth announcements and obituaries, Christmas and New Years cards, poems, and personal notes from family members and friends. Correspondence includes Flora Jo Bergstrom’s “V Diary,” the running update Ms. Bergstrom, a New York Hospital nurse, sent to members of the Ninth General Hospital while they were stationed in the South Pacific. Ms.Bergstrom’s “V Diary” captured national news highlights, New York Hospital updates, and personal interest stories the Ninth General Hospital staffers might otherwise miss while stationed abroad. Likewise, this series also includes updates on hospital activity, wartime efforts, and general news regarding life in the South Pacific from Ninth General Hospital nurses and doctors to family, friends, and colleagues back in the United States.

This series also contains correspondence written following the end of the war and upon the Ninth General Hospital’s dissolution and includes documentation regarding the unit’s newsletter, upcoming reunions, and a proposed archive of Ninth General Hospital materials and records.