Daphine Doster Mastroianni Collection

Details

Who's responsible?: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
How much has been digitized?: Only a part of this collection has been digitized.
What's in the full collection?: 16 February 1999 oral history transcript; Newspaper Clippings; copies of correspondence, 1942-1945; book "L.O.D. Yes: An Odyssey of the Army's 18th General Hospital", 1947; 1948 Military Papers; Newsletters; Programs and Miscellany; Photographs depicting basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina; and her service as a surgical nurse in the Army Nurse Corps in New Zealand, Fiji and India,and Mastroianni's return to the states after the war. Mastroianni wrote detailed descriptions on the back of many of the photographs; She had sent those to her future husband; Joe Mastroianni, a Red Cross worker she had met in Fiji; audiocassettes and correspondence with and about an author doing research for a proposed book about women in WWII military service, 1983-1987; 15 page "A Study of a Selected Group of Veterans Overseas with Social References to Attitudes and Social Behavior" probably written by Mastroianni.
Full biography: Daphine Doster Mastroianni (1906-2000) of Monroe, North Carolina, served in New Zealand, Fiji, and India with the Army Nurse Corps (ANC) from 1942 to 1945. After the war, Mastroianni continued her nursing career with the United States Public Health Service, the Arkansas Health Department, and later as dean of University of Arkansas School of Nursing. Daphine Doster Mastroianni was born 7 October 1906 in Monroe, North Carolina, to a railroad worker and a nurse, and was raised in Gibson, North Carolina. She graduated from high school in 1923 and then attended the North Carolina College for Women (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro), where she studied music. After graduating in 1927, Mastroianni worked as a music teacher at Cherryville High School and later Kings Mountain High School. She enrolled at John Hopkins School of Nursing in 1933 and graduated in 1936. She worked as a surgical nurse for three years in the operating room of John Hopkins and later Berea College Hospital in Berea, Kentucky. Mastroianni also did public nursing in Richmond, Kentucky, and Bowling Green, Kentucky. Mastroianni joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1942 with a unit from Johns Hopkins Hospital, the 18th General Hospital. She went through basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and then served as a surgical nurse in New Zealand and Fiji from 1942 to 1945. In 1945 she was transferred to Calcutta, India. She returned to the United States and was briefly assigned to Fort Devens, Massachusetts. Following her discharge, Mastroianni received her master's in public health from the Minnesota School of Public Health. She worked for twenty-four years with the United States Public Health Service providing loans and personnel to aid states. During that time she worked for two years in the Arkansas Health Department. From 1952 to 1953 she served as acting dean of the school of nursing at the University of Arkansas while developing a four-year bachelor of science program in nursing. In 1992 she married Joe Mastroianni, whom she had originally met during World War II. Daphine Doster Mastroianni died on 3 August 2000.
Topics: Women's History
Military
Schools and Colleges
Branch of service: Army -- Army Nurse Corps
Conflict: World War II era (1940-1946)
Subject headings: World War, 1939-1945
United States. Army--Women
Contributing Institution: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries

Pages

: Army Nurse Corps nurse with medical supplies in hospital converted from Old Victoria School, Fiji; ANC nurse working with medical supplies in a hospital converted from Old Victoria School, attired in seersucker hospital uniform with hospital cap.

: Army Nurse and two male service members in army vehicle, Fiji; Army Nurse, may be Daphine Mastroianni, attired in summer work uniform, sitting on Army vehicle with two men, one in Army uniform and one who may or may not be in uniform.

: Army and Army Nurse Corps at worship service, India; Army and Army Nurse Corps members at worship service in tent, India, 1945.

: Army nurses at thermal region in Rotorua, New Zealand; A group of Army nurses at the thermal region in Rotorua, New Zealand, in 1942. They are attired in dark-colored overcoats with matching garrison caps and oxford shoes. The background of the photo is shrouded in a cloud from the thermals. Writing on reverse:"Our group in middle[?] of thermal region Rotorua - N. Zed"

: Army nurses in front of Maori meeting house; Group of Army nurses attired in dark overcoats and matching garrison caps, some in service caps, standing in front of Maori meeting house or wharenui. June 1942. Writing on reverse:"Rotorura[sic] June 1942 Rangi - Maori guide and her group - Jakur[?] in front of Meeting House of "Pa" [settlement]"

: Army nurses in front of nurses' quarters; Army nurses during basic training, two attired in the white hospital uniform with long sleeves, two attired in what may be the blue seersucker uniform with short sleeves, all holding gas mask bags. 1942.

: Army tent with bench and chair outside. Fiji; Army tent with a bench and chair outside of it. Writing on reverse:"The flap is up for more breeze. Notice the sparse grass - too much sand. Am about 50 yards from the beach. These pictures did not turn out."

: Barge carrying Army Nurse Corps, India; Barge carrying Army Nurse Corps, India, 1945.

: Daphine Doster Mastroianni and Fijian man; Daphine Doster Mastroianni, attired in Army Nurse Corps seersucker summer service uniform with matching garrison cap, and a Fijian man, 1944.

: Daphine Doster Mastroianni and friend on elephant, India; Daphine Mastroianni (left) and friend on elephant, India, 1945.

: Daphine Doster Mastroianni and two friends, Fiji; Daphine Doster Mastroianni and two friends, attired in Army Nurse Corps seersucker hospital uniform with service cap appearing to match the ANC olive drab off-duty dress. One wears the olive drab field overcoat, the other two are holding their coats. Mastroianni wears white oxford shoes, the other two wear black oxford shoes. Fiji, 1942-1945. Writing on reverse:"Mr. J. Mastroianni Am. Red Cross I don't believe we look quite this bad."

: Daphine Doster Mastroianni at an open-air market, India; Daphine Mastroianni at an open-air market, holding full bags. India, 1945. Writing on reverse:"A good view of the market. These bags were plenty heavy - what a slouch. Look at that packet! This was my first trip to market. I wanted the vender[sic] stretched out in back to show because this is typical of the way they lie around. The sun brings out the odors!! Sheets + cage are hung to keep sun off goods - will have others of market."

: Daphine Doster Mastroianni in Fiji; Daphine Mastroianni poses in her summer beige dress uniform with visored hat in front of a tropical plant in Fiji, circa 1943.

: Daphine Doster Mastroianni in front of nurses' quarters at basic training; Daphine Doster Mastroianni standing in front of nurses' quarters, attired in white hospital uniform with nurse's cap.

: Daphine Doster Mastroianni in front of tent, India; Daphine Mastroianni in front of a tent. India, 1945. Writing on reverse:"Tent #2 - yours truly washing the face. Gives you an idea of the British desert[?] tent[?] we live in. Abdul made the bamboo rack for our helmets - I was thinking of you when she snapped this - honest. Hoping it would be good so you could see how we live. Our new tent is much tighter and we have more room."

: Daphine Doster Mastroianni in front of thatched building; Daphine Doster Mastroianni attired in seersucker hospital uniform with hospital cap and white oxford shoes, standing in front of thatched building with open doorway, circa 1943. Writing on reverse:"Not too clear - but you get a [unclear] of my home. The window is my room - ten of us live in here."

: Daphine Doster Mastroianni in hammock, with friends, India; Daphine Mastroianni and friends, Mastroianni in hammock. Writing on reverse:"Betty is combing A. Mary's hair. I have my fatigue hat on and am typing Christmas thenk you notes. See the fence? Of course - always a clothes line. D. Mastroianni"

: Daphine Doster Mastroianni in hospital converted from Old Victoria School; Daphine Doster Mastroianni in a hospital converted from Old Victoria School, attired in the seersucker hospital uniform, circa 1943.

: Daphine Doster Mastroianni in uniform; Daphine Mastroianni poses beside a building in her olive drab winter uniform with garison cap, circa 1942, probably just after receiving the uniform. Of it, she says "just plain medium size - regular - and not a bad fit. Now I know all women come in 3 sizes - small, medium and large. It worked with 60 of us."

: Daphine Doster Mastroianni in uniform; Daphine Mastroianni poses in her olive drab winter uniform with visored hat while on leave from Fort Devens, Massachusetts, in 1945.

Pages

In collections

Women Veterans Historical Project