Mary Haynsworth Mathews Collection

Mary Haynsworth Mathews
Mary Haynsworth Mathews, circa 1945. She wears a rain hat and coat with the circular American Red Cross Military Welfare Service sleeve patch.
Mary Haynsworth Mathews dancing with a GI
Mary Haynsworth Mathews dances the jitterbug with a GI outside a Red Cross clubmobile in Germany, in 1945.
Mary Haynsworth Mathews in Germany
Mary Haynsworth Mathews, in profile, looks out from a balcony in Germany in 1945. The American Red Cross Service sleeve patch on her arm is clearly visible.
Mary Haynsworth Mathews in field attire
Mary Haynsworth Mathews, in Red Cross helmet and coat, is pictured during a twelve hour wait to be transported from England to France in August of 1944. She has a canteen and knapsack in her lap.
Mary Haynsworth Mathews in the grass
Mary Haynsworth Mathews lies in the grass, wearing sunglasses and a Red Cross field uniform, circa 1945.
Mary Haynsworth Mathews inside a Red Cross clubmobile
Mary Haynsworth Mathews stands inside a Red Cross clubmobile in 1945.
Mary Haynsworth Mathews serving troops from a clubmobile
Mary Haynsworth Mathews and a fellow Red Cross worker, both in clubmobile service uniform, stand in front of a clubmobile while troops lineup to get coffee and donuts in 1945.
Mary Haynsworth Mathews serving two soldiers
Red Cross worker Mary Haynsworth Mathews serves coffee to two soldiers of the 386th Bomber Squadron near Essex, England, circa 1944.
Mary Haynsworth Mathews with shuttle service in front of an airplane
Mary Haynsworth Mathews (seated, probably in clubmobile service uniform) poses with three members of a transport team in front of the plane they use for shuttle service in 1945.
Oral history interview with Mary Mathews
Primarily documents Mary Haynsworth Mathews's experiences overseas in the Red Cross during World War II and her career in the theater. Mathews discusses living with her extended family as a child; theater opportunities in high school; being involved in drama departments at Winthrop College and the University of North Carolina; performing with Michael Chekov's troupe in the late 1930s and early 1940s; and working with Yul Brynner after World War II. " Mathews comments on her mother's involvement with the Red Cross; dancing with young soldiers at Camp Croft in Spartanburg, South Carolina; and her decision to join the Red Cross. She describes her club responsibilities while in Europe, including supervising the day-to-day operations and serving donuts to returning pilots; wanting to work in a clubmobile near the front lines; jitterbugging with soldiers in Le Havre, France; interactions with wounded soldiers; her living arrangements overseas; her admiration of President Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt; the somber quality of V-E Day; celebrations in Le Havre; being stationed at the same base as actor Robert Preston and later meeting him on Broadway; a Red Cross friend; washing uniforms in gasoline and living in a building with no roof in France; and the death of Red Cross worker Elizabeth Richardson in a plane crash in France. Mathews also provides her opinion of women in combat positions. " Mathews briefly speaks about her career in the theater after the war and living in New York with her husband, actor George Mathews.
Red Cross clubmobile
Mary Haynsworth Mathews leans out the passenger side window of a Red Cross Clubmobile while taking coffee and donuts to servicemen in Germany in the summer of 1945. The markings on the vehicle include the "Super 6th" Armored Division,"Cheyenne," and the 595th Ambulance Company - slogan "Bring 'Em' Back Alive."
Red Cross workers serve coffee to servicemen
Red Cross workers serve the men of the 386th Bomber Squadron outside a building in New Essex, England, circa 1944. In the center of the mass of servicemen, two women, including one in the ARC military welfare service uniform, serve coffee.
V-E Day Parade in LeHavre, France
Photo looking down on a VE [Victory in Europe] Day parade in Le Havre, France, on 9 May 1945. People line the streets as a unit of soldiers marches by, followed by a jeep carrying uniformed females.