Jane Beetham Jones Collection

Jane Beetham Jones
Jane Beetham Jones poses in the Women Marines green and white seersucker summer service uniform, circa 1954. She has earned her Private 1st class stripe.
Jane Beetham Jones and coworker
Marine Corps Reservist Jane Beetham Jones points to something in a report held by a serviceman smoking a cigarette in May 1968.
Jane Beetham Jones and male Marine at work
Marine Corps Reservist Jane Beetham Jones reviews papers with serviceman Lawson in May 1968.
Jane Beetham Jones at desk
Jane Beetham Jones works at a desk, circa 1965. She wears the Women Marines winter service uniform with the insignia of a sergeant.
Jane Beetham Jones at desk
Jane Beetham Jones works at her desk, circa 1965, wearing the Women Marines winter service uniform with sergeant stripes. On the desk are piles of papers, binders, reports, a telephone, cup, and cigarette burning in an ashtray.
Jane Beetham Jones at dock
A female Marine, likely Jane Beetham Jones, walks near a dock, circa 1955. She wears the Women Marines summer service uniform and matching garrison cap. A ship can be seen in the background and bicycles are parked near the water.
Jane Beetham Jones at information booth
Jane Beetham Jones (right) and a fellow Woman Marine stand at an information booth for the 5th Infantry Battalion at an open house for Brodhead Armory in Detroit, Michigan, circa 1955. Both women wear the Women Marines green and white seersucker summer uniform and matching garrison cap. The Marine Corps emblem is on the front of the booth.
Male and female Marine
A Woman Marine stands next to an unidentified male Marine at a rifle demonstration during the Brodhead Armory open house in Detroit, Michigan, circa 1955. She wears the Women Marines green and white seersucker summer service uniform and garrison cap.
Oral history interview with Jane Beetham Jones
Primarily documents Jane Beetham Jones's service from 1952 to 1980 with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve for twenty-eight years and her military and civilian career in public information and journalism. Jones discusses her high education and work at the Detroit News. She then discusses her twenty-year career in the Marine Corps Reserve. Notable topics include why Jones chose the Marine Corps; people's response to her service; waiting in Detroit until they had enough women for a platoon; training at Camp Lejeune instead of Parris Island during summers; working in the Public Information Office rather than administration; meeting her husband; writing articles for newsletters and newspapers; uniforms; social life and drinking off the base; living in barracks from World War II; food; and being involved in an all-service exercise. " Jones also notes the various places that she was stationed during the course of her career and talks briefly about her duties in the Public Information Office; teaching military history while stationed at Quantico, Virginia; and being sent down to St. Louis without any arrangements having been made. " Jones discusses the perception of women in the military; positions women were limited to while she was in the reserves; difficulties because her husband was also in the reserve; several difficult incidents with Marines who did not care for the women; changes in the Marine Corps during the course of her service; and women in combat positions.
Two Women Marines
Two female Marines, possibly including Jane Beetham Jones on the right, stand together in green and white seersucker summer service uniforms at the Marine Corps League Convention in June 1954.
Woman Marine at dock
An unidentified Woman Marine stands near a docked military ship, circa 1955. She wears the Women Marines green and white seersucker summer service uniform, garrison cap, and brown leather handbag.
Woman Marine at information booth
An unidentified Woman Marine stands an information booth for the 5th Infantry Battalion while a male Marine leans against it during an open house for Brodhead Armory in Detroit, Michigan, circa 1955. She wears the Women Marines green and white seersucker summer service uniform and garrison cap.
Women Marines at convention
Four women, including two in uniform, sit at a table of typewriters while attending the 5th Marine Corps League Convention in Detroit in June 1954.