Collection consists of a forty-four page scrapbook belonging to an unidentified compiler, documenting the history of Fort Des Moines, Iowa, as a Women's Army Corps (WAC) training center, and the 404th Women's Army Corps band, the first African American female band in the United States military. The scrapbook contains 100 photographs, all but one black-and-white, ranging in size from 2 x 3 inches to 7 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches. The creator also included photographic postcards as well as clippings from official Fort Des Moines publications. The covers for the scrapbook are missing. The first page contains a photograph of the front page of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin from December 8, 1941. The following early pages provide a short history of Fort Des Moines, with clippings documenting its conversion to the first Women's Army Auxiliary Corps training center. The clippings are augmented by photo postcards depicting the grounds, along with one showing a woman blowing a bugle into a oversize megaphone. Documentation of the African American women's band begins on page 21, with a group portrait. Other photographs show the women in uniform; many of the photographs are signed or are otherwise identified in ink. Images include the practice room, women marching with instruments, and off-duty band members relaxing, riding bicycles, traveling together, preparing for sleep, or playing with pets. There are at least two photographs of Major Charity Adams Earley, the first commissioned African American WAC. Acquired as part of the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture.
