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

: 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.

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

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

: 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 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 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 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.

: Daphine Doster Mastroianni washing at basin outside of tent, India; Daphine Mastroianni washing her hands at a basin outside of her tent, attired in seersucker hospital uniform. India, 1945.

: Nurses on barge during trip across India; Army Nurse Corps nurses on barge. Sleeping bunks with one nurse soaking her foot. Writing on reverse:"A glimpse of interior of barge. Bobbie[?] soaking her infected heel while Purkie[?] supervises. You don't see the dirt or get the smells here."

: Oral history interview with Daphine Doster Mastroianni; Documents Daphine Doster Mastroianni's education at the North Carolina College for Women (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro); her work as a music teacher and surgical nurse before World War II; her service with Army Nurse Corps (ANC) in New Zealand, Fiji, and India from 1942 to 1945; and her post-war work with the U.S. Public Health Service, Arkansas Health Department, and the University of Arkansas. Mastroianni discusses her time at the North Carolina College for Women, focusing primarily on the music department. She also mentions some professors, the administrators, a senior trip, and her close friends. Pre-war employment topics include forming a glee club at Cherryville High School and organizing a band at Kings Mountain High School. She also discusses in detail the process of getting into John Hopkins School of Nursing and its cost and uniforms; she also discusses the atmosphere and her experiences working as a surgical nurse there. " Mastroianni describes at length her service in the ANC. She recalls joining the 18th General Hospital; her training at Fort Jackson; the train ride to San Francisco; her trip on the U.S.S. James Parker and her stay in New Zealand; her time stationed in Fiji and a Fourth of July celebration; her assignment in Calcutta, including the poverty she saw, the danger of snakes and mosquitoes, and the discomfort; and briefly her time at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. " Mastroianni speaks of post-war achievements in the field of nursing. She comments on receiving her masters in public health from the Minnesota School of Public Health, working with the U.S. Public Health Service, and her service with the Arkansas Health Department. Most of the post-war discussion details her work as acting dean of nursing from 1952 to 1953 at the University of Arkansas. She talks in depth about her struggles to start a school of nursing and a bachelor of science program in nursing there. " Other topics include how Mastroianni met her husband on the boat ride from New Zealand to Fiji, and their late in life romance.

: Portrait of Daphine Doster Mastroianni; Formal portrait of Army Nurse Daphine Doster Mastroianni in uniform, circa 1942.

: Wooden palisade around Maori village; Wooden fortifications around Maori village or settlement. Writing on reverse:"Fortifications around Maori "Pa"(Fortress) Rotorua June 1942"

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Women Veterans Historical Project

Daphine Doster Mastroianni Collection

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