mask
notes: label: Description
content: This mask was made by volunteer mask-maker Dixie Maddox during the Covid-19 pandemic to help protect clients of the American GI Forum’s National Veterans Outreach Program’s Residential Center for Veterans (RCV) in San Antonio, Texas, from the virus. Under the leadership of Carlos Martinez, the president and CEO of the National Veterans Outreach Program, the RCV sought to buy face coverings to lower transmission of the virus among the 140 men and women served by the center. However, early in the pandemic, supplies of supplies of personal-protective equipment (PPE) including face coverings were limited. Moreover, even if masks had been available for purchase at that point, the RCV staff recognized that standard masks would not be appropriate for their clients. Many of the veterans had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Because covering the mouth can trigger anxiety, claustrophobia and other feelings associated with trauma, the RCV staff knew they would need to provide masks that residents could wear, in Maddox’s words, “without feeling smothered or trapped.” To meet their distinct need, Maddox, the Client Communications/Program Development Director, made masks at home based on a panel-shaped prototype she had developed and that Carlos Martinez approved. She explained that the masks were “purposely created to block the face without feeling like the mouth and nose were “sealed” in.” Ultimately, Maddox sewed 106 masks, by machine and by hand. She noted that she used fabric leftover from projects with her daughters and from cutting up old t-shirts she bought on sale, “along with old sheets that [she] had to create a double-layer mask. The cords to tie them on were either cotton clothesline or shoelaces. It was a desperate time,” she commented. The RCV residents reported that they found the masks comfortable and that they appreciated having a choice of styles.
label: Description
content: The National Veterans Outreach Program is an offshoot of the Latino veterans and civil rights organization, the American GI Forum. Its Residential Center for Veterans provides transitional housing to homeless veterans.
label: Description
content: In August 2020, Carlos Martinez and his wife both died of Covid-19.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: associated subject
content: 2019 novel coronavirus disease
label: associated subject
content: Infectious diseases
label: associated subject
content: Public Health
label: associated subject
content: COVID-19 (Disease)
label: associated subject
content: 2019-nCoV disease
label: associated subject
content: Disease prevention
label: related event
content: COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2023
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Philanthropy
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2022.0042.2
label: accession number
content: 2022.0042
label: catalog number
content: 2022.0042.2
objectType: label: Object Name
content: mask
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fabric (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 14.5 cm x 20 cm x 1 cm; 5 23/32 in x 7 7/8 in x 13/32 in