Help for the Farmer: The Women's Land Army in WWI
After World War I
Guiding Question
What impact did the Women's Land Army have on World War II?
Woman's Land Army of America, From the Collections of the Morristown and Morris Township Library
The Woman’s Land Army was so successful during the First World War that it was reinstated during World War II this time as a federally funded program. Formed as a part of the Department of Agriculture, the Women’s Land Army operated from 1943 to 1947 and oversaw two million volunteers in 43 states.
Dorothea Post received this letter in 1942 from Robert M. Dilatush Jr. from the Farm Placement Service in Trenton, NJ about recruiting women to fill farm work shortages during World War II. We do not have Dorothea Post's response to Robert M. Dilatush Jr., so we are not sure the advice she gave him for recruiting.
Even though this letter was sent in 1942 to Dorothea Post, it would not be until 1943 that Congress approved the Emergency Farm Labor Program, allowing women to work on farms.