The Farmerettes of Washington, D.C.

Propaganda poster for the Women's Land Army of America. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

100 years ago, women across the country took to the farms to support the war effort, and prove that women could do men's work. 

My piece on the D.C. Chapter of the Women's Land Army of America was published on Narratively this week. Go read it and then come back for more images of the WLAA.

The D.C. Women's Land Army of America cutting hay, late summer 1918. Courtesy Montgomery County Historical Society, Women's Land Army Collection.

Janet and Susan Ransome working on a farm, 1918. Courtesy Montgomery County Historical Society, Women's Land Army Collection.

Mother Amy C. Ransome with daughters Janet and Susan in the Washington Times, March 1918.

     In D.C., the WLAA chapter was spearheaded by Amy C. Ransome and her daughters, Janet, Susan, and Violet. Amy had a Masters in chemistry, and was an active suffragette in the National Women's Party. She wanted to both do her part for the war effort, and support women's equality in the United States. 

All three sisters were still attending Central High School (today Cardozo HS) in northwest D.C. when they joined the Women's Land Army.

Courtesy Montgomery County Historical Society, Women's Land Army Collection.

Susan and Violet in the field, as pictured in the Washington Post, 1918.

     After training at the National Service School, located near where Sibley Hospital is today, young women who were more used to dresses and high-society events than overalls and barns, headed out to the farms to do basically everything: hoeing, planting, weeding, thinning, harvesting, picking, milking, threshing, pitching, shocking, packing, plowing, and driving. The farmers were impressed with how hard the girls worked, and how good they were at farm work. 

Farmerette with harvested greens, 1918. Courtesy Montgomery County Historical Society, Women's Land Army Collection.

     The media loved the women, and they used that to their advantage. The WLAA encouraged farmerettes to talk to the press and further promote their semi-clandestine women's equality campaign. 

Farmerettes, horses, and hay, 1918. Courtesy Montgomery County Historical Society, Women's Land Army Collection.

Training school at the University of Virginia. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

WLAA advertisement for the New Jersey division. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

     Around the country, an estimated 15,000 women worked for the WLAA in 28 states, while others volunteered on college farms or through the YWCA. 

A farmerette in Long Island with some pig-friends, pictured in the Washington Post, 1918.

     View the full collection from the Montgomery County Historical Society here. 
     For more information about Farmerettes around the country, read Elaine Weiss's Fruits of Victory: the Women's Land Army of America in the Great War. 

Article from the Washington Herald, 1918.

Y.W.C.A Land Army advertisement. Courtesy Library of Congress.