Scope and Content Note
The papers of Oveta Culp Hobby (1905-1995) span the years 1941-1997 with the bulk of the material dating from 1941 to 1945 and pertaining to Hobby’s activities during World War II. Hobby served as chief of the Women’s Interest Section of the War Department’s Bureau of Public Relations (1941-1942) and as the first director of the Women’s Army Corps (1942-1945). The papers are arranged in three series: General Correspondence , Miscellany , and Oversize .
Letters in the General Correspondence series are grouped by year. Those from 1941 include congratulatory letters on Hobby’s appointment in the War Department and inquiries about the Women’s Interest Section. In 1942 Hobby became the first director of the newly-formed Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), renamed the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in 1943. Correspondents from this period include prospective WAAC recruits; people recommending women for officer candidate school; Don C. Faith, commandant of the first WAAC training center at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, who reported on preparations for the first trainees; WACs recounting their experiences in training and working overseas; Hobby’s counterparts in other service units and in other countries; military officers praising the work of WACs; journalists requesting access and information; and fellow Texans and colleagues in the newspaper business offering support and congratulations.
A topical file and press clippings in the Miscellany series pertain to Hobby’s Women’s Interest Section activities. Also in the series are her military personnel “201" file, schedules, and scrapbooks documenting her travel and speaking engagements as WAC director. A 1942 scrapbook contains press accounts of the establishment and early days of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. Included in the printed matter are 1943 WAAC regulations and a 1944 WAC handbook and recruiting material. Aspects of Hobby’s life and accomplishments not documented in this collection are detailed in Oveta Culp Hobby, published in 1997 after her death, which is also in the printed matter file.