Inside the Vault: The Diary of WWI Nurse Ella Jane Osborn
by Gilder Lehrman Staff
More than two million soldiers served in Europe with the American Expeditionary Forces between 1917 and 1920. Once deployed to Europe, soldiers wrote letters to their loved ones describing conditions on the field and ordinary day-to-day worries. Ron Adkisson, 2012 Kentucky History Teacher of the Year and Hamilton's Samantha Pollino joined us on the May 6, 2021 program as we dove into the experiences of World War I nurse Ella Jane Osborn and discussed how we can use her diary to learn about the war.
Click here to download the slides from the presentation.
Classroom-ready resources for the documents presented
- Spotlight on Primary Source: The Diary of Ella Jane Osborn
- Spotlight on Primary Source: World War I Poems: “In Flanders Fields” & “The Answer,” 1918
Use the timestamps below to jump to the topics you want to view
- Danger Ella Jane Osborn faced: 9:01–12:48
- Wounded soldiers, modern warfare, and funeral services: 12:48–34:19
- Normalcy during the war: 34:19–42:38
- In Flanders Fields and The Answer: 42:38–59:58