Archives & Research

A place of honor

President Herman B Wells presides over dedication of the Golden Book in 1944
Two Air Force cadets visit the Memorial Room
Dedication of the Memorial Room in 1961

Clockwise from upper left: President Herman B Wells presides over the dedication of the Golden Book in its original location beside Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union, 1944; IU Air Force ROTC cadets view the Golden Book; dedication of the Memorial Room, 1961.

Colonel Richard Owen

This bronze bust of Civil War Colonel Richard Owen was commissioned by former Confederate prisoners of war in recognition of his kindness and courtesy as commandant of Camp Morton in Indianapolis. Owen taught natural history for 15 years on the Bloomington campus, where Owen Hall bears his name. The bust is located outside of the Memorial Room and was created by sculptor Belle Kinney, the daughter of a Confederate soldier.

Honoring IU’s Lost Daughters

Edna H. Henry (circa 1921), director of social services for Long Hospital, laid the groundwork for establishing Re-Aides physical therapy programs at 29 U.S. Army hospitals.

Thirty IU women who served in various capacities during World War I but were not included in the original Golden Book eventually qualified as veterans, years after the war was over. Inconsistencies in record keeping were discovered during research in recent years, and on Veterans Day 2011, the oversight was corrected when the names of these, the “Lost Daughters of Indiana University,” were ceremoniously added.

Of these these brave women, 15 were in the Army Nurse Corps, seven were in the Naval Reserve, and seven served with the Army as physical therapy Re-Aides. They include Emma Belle Stevenson, head nurse at Long Hospital of the IU School of Medicine; Flora Ruth, the only IU woman who died in service during WWI; and Lettie Wadsworth, who served in France, earning her degree after the war. Others served in various ways: Hilda Springer served in Naval Intelligence; Sisters Dorrit and Lorena Ivy Dengler were “Soldiers of the Soil” in the Women’s Land Army (Dorrit went on to Army Nurse Training and Lorena enlisted in the Naval Reserve, and then in the Army as a physical therapy Re-Aide); Belva Cuzzoirt established the Re-Aide program at the Army’s largest hospital, Fort Sheridan; and Georgia Finley served as a dietician on the front lines in France.

Questions?

If you have questions about the Golden Book, email us at goldbook@iu.edu.