More Than Wartime Work

Experience Oregon permanent exhibit
Oregon Historical Society Museum — Portland, Oregon
June 13, 2026 | 10:15am

A collection of uniforms hangs behind glass.

At first glance, they appear to be military artifacts.

A Red Cross uniform. An Army uniform. An aviator’s cap. A hard hat. A welder’s mask. A flight suit.

The sort of objects often displayed in exhibits about war.

Then I began reading the labels.

The World War I artifacts belonged to women such as Nelle O’Donnell and Agnes Isabel Fox, who served through organizations like the Red Cross and the U.S. Army.

Nearby, the World War II display featured an aviator’s cap worn by Leah Hing, one of the first Chinese American women to earn a pilot’s license, a hard hat from the Kaiser shipyards, a welder’s mask, and a flight suit worn by a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots.

What struck me was how the two displays seemed to speak to one another.

The women of World War I appeared through uniforms of service.

The women of World War II appeared through uniforms of work.

One exhibit described Oregonians filling labor shortages and supporting the war effort. The other noted that women took high-paying, skilled jobs traditionally held by men and gained financial independence.

The artifacts were separated by decades.

The story they told felt continuous.

A Red Cross bag. An Army uniform. An aviator’s cap. A welder’s mask.

None were presented as symbols.

They were tools.

Objects worn while doing a job that needed to be done.

Yet together they documented something larger than wartime service. They revealed how periods of crisis opened new opportunities, allowing women to enter professions, workplaces, and public roles that had long been difficult to access.

The wars eventually ended. The uniforms were put away.

The changes they represented did not.