Button from Army Nurse Corps uniform worn by Lt. Louise Lomax
date: label: Date
content: 1943-1953
name: label: Manufactured by
content: Waterbury Button Company, American, founded 1812
label: Distributed by
content: United States Army, American, founded 1775
label: Owned by
content: Louise Virginia Lomax, American, 1920 - 2011
notes: label: Caption
content: Louise Lomax joined the Army Nurse Corps (ANC) as a 2nd Lieutenant in March 1943 with the help of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses and trained as a psychiatric nurse at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. By September 1943 she was stationed at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, home of the Tuskegee Airmen. Lomax remained at Tuskegee during the war, where she was eventually promoted to 1st Lieutenant.
label: Caption
content: After the war, Lt. Lomax went on to serve at Lockbourne Army Air Base in Ohio; Provident Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland; at VA hospitals in Downey, Illinois; and Perry Point, Maryland; and finally at the Army’s Percy Jones General Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan. Lt. Lomax retired from active duty in March 1949 and transferred to the Reserve Corps, where she served for four years. She was honorably discharged from the ANC in April 1953.
label: Description
content: Button from Army Nurse Corps uniform worn by Lt. Louise Lomax. The button is gold colored with the United States Army emblem at center. The emblem depicts an eagle with outstretched wings behind a shield. Embossed on the back of the button is [WATERBURY SCOVILL MFG. CO.].
place: label: Place used
content: Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Clothing and dress
label: Topic
content: Medicine
label: Topic
content: Military
label: Topic
content: Nursing
label: Topic
content: Segregation
label: Topic
content: U.S. History, 1945-1953
label: Topic
content: Women
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Clothing - Military Uniforms
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Pia Marie Winters Jordan in memory of her mother, First Lieutenant Louise Virginia Lomax Winters, Army Nurse Corps; and her uncle, Sgt. Henry James Lomax, U.S. Army
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2022.42.4.1
objectType: label: Type
content: buttons (fasteners)
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: No known copyright restrictions
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: metal
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 13/16 × 13/16 × 3/8 in. (2.1 × 2.1 × 1 cm)