Hazel Louis Bowman collection

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 10.0050

Staff Only

Content Description

This collection relates to Hazel Louis Bowman who worked for the Signal Corps and lived in India with the American Red Cross for two years. Bowman's collection contains six full boxes, one oversize box, a phono records box, and two photograph boxes. Four of the boxes include letters written to and from Hazel to her parents, family, neighbors, and friends. The collection also contains an oral history transcript, newsletters and bulletins, American Red Cross publications, her diary, a book written by Bowman, photograph albums, and ephemera.

Dates

Event: Majority of material found within 1930-1948

Creator

Hazel Louis Bowman, 1917-2009 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to all researchers.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Biographical / Historical

Hazel Louis Bowman was born on February 18, 1917 in Plant City, Florida. In 1933, she graduated from Brewster High School and attended Florida State College for Women (now FSU) where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in 1937. In college she was the editor of The Florida Flambeau. After her graduation, Bowman became one of the first three women admitted to the University of Florida Law School. She earned a Master of Arts from the University of Florida and did post-graduate work at the University of Maryland. Hazel taught school and worked as a welfare worker until WWII when she became a recreation worker. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, Hazel Bowman joined the Signal Corps where she worked in code-breaking in Virginia for a year. From 1943 to 1945, Hazel Bowman served as an assistant procurement officer with the American Red Cross, in the China, Burma, India theater. She was stationed in Dibrugarh, Assam, India. In India, Bowman also operated several social clubs India to entertain homesick American troops. After the war, Hazel worked as a laboratory technician, a freelance writer, editor, and indexer. She also worked as registrar, director of student personnel, and professor at various universities and colleges, including the University of Tampa, Townsend State, and the University of Maryland. After moving to Florida, she retired from The Vanguard School, Lake Wales. Hazel Bowman passed away in Mulberry, Florida on October 12, 2009. Instead of a burial, Hazel donated her body to the University of Florida Health Science Center.

Biographical / Historical

Eunice Claire Sloat (nee Bowman) was born on January 12, 1921, in Brewster, FL, to Joseph M. and Annie T. Bowman and died on November 1, 2015. Eunice was Hazel Bowman's sister. She graduated from Brewster High School before attending Florida State College for Women where she studied medical laboratory and x-ray technology and eventually worked at Bartow Memorial Hospital. Eunice first enlisted in the US Navy WAVES in 1942 and attended basic training at Oklahoma A&M in Stillwater, OK. After boot camp, Eunice was sent to Washington, D.C., for work as a teletype operator and supervisor of communications at the Bureau of Personnel until the end of the war. She married Alton D. Sloat, an enlisted man, on March 17, 1945. After the war, Eunice had two daughters and a son (Jacqueline Marie Sloat, Sara Anna Johnson, and Alton D. Sloat, Jr.) and eventually settled in Tallahassee, FL.

Extent

11 boxes (6 full boxes, 1 artifact box, 1 oversize box, 1 record album box, and 2 photograph boxes.)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Custodial History

Transferred from the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience to FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives in July 2022.

Subjects

World War, 1939-1945--War work--Red Cross Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
American Red Cross
American Red Cross--Uniforms--History Subject Source: Local sources
Bengal (India) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Calcutta (India) Subject Source: Not Applicable
Calcutta (India) Subject Source: Not Applicable
Camp Pickett (Va.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Cartoons and comics Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Christmas cards. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Diary Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Digboi (India) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Elizabeth, Queen of Great Britain, II, 1926-
Florida State College for Women
Florida State College for Women--Alumni and alumnae Subject Source: Local sources
Florida State Flambeau Subject Source: Local sources
Florida State Flambeau Subject Source: Local sources
Gainesville (Fla.) Subject Source: Lcnaf
India Subject Source: Lcnaf
Long Beach (Calif.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Maps Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Medals Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Memoirs. Subject Source: Local sources
Mother's Day Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Newspapers Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Oral history Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Photographs Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Pins (Jewelry) Subject Source: Local sources
Postage stamps Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Prisoners of war Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Records. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Scrapbooks Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Sloat, Eunice Claire Bowman, 1921-2015
Taj Mahal (Agra, India) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
United States. Army. Signal Corps
United States. Army. Signal Corps
United States. Army. Signal Corps. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
United States. Naval Reserve. Women's Reserve
V-mail Subject Source: Lctgm
Washington (D.C.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1939-1945 Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1939-1945--Burma Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1939-1945--Burma Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1939-1945--Caricatures and cartoons Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1939-1945--Censorship Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1939-1945--Florida Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1939-1945--Japan--Surrender Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1939-1945--Photography Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1939-1945--Women Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1939-1945--Women--United States Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings