Delia West Marble (1868-1951) was active in many civic projects through women's clubs such as The Garden Club of America and Bedford Garden Club. She teamed up with Dr. Ida Ogilvie of Barnard College in 1917 to open the Women's Agricultural Camp on Marble's family farm, also located in New Bedford, New York. Together, Marble and Ogilvie recruited and trained women during World War I to work on farms, drive tractors and plow fields to prevent food shortages as more and more male farm laborers enlisted to fight overseas. The training camp became the model for the Women's Land Army which developed into a national movement, mobilizing 20,000 rural and city 'farmerettes' between 1917 and 1919. These farmerettes broke the societal expectations for women at the time
and proved that women could do the same job that
a man could do.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
Sponsor:
A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
