More of the happy wanderers
By: usermattw
Tags: Annecy, antiques, Carcassonne, Dauphine, Grenoble, photography
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What it is:
Four photos, each measuring 3 x 5 inches.
What I know about it:
A different copy of the upper left photo is labeled Annecy – May 29- 20. The upper right photo is labeled Hazel / Hotel Garden / Carcassonne. The lower left photo is labeled Hazel / Dauphine Garden / Grenoble May 28.
Comments:
Here are four more photos of our intrepid “happy wanderers”, from the same tour of France as the ones I posted here yesterday. I thought that these didn’t have a year, but I finally realized the “20” probably refers to 1920. (It seems so obvious now that I look at it.) These ladies certainly seem to have gotten around in that time. By the way, modern images of Annecy make it look remarkably unchanged.
Pics of Then 
Remember yesterday’s comment about how alike these women dress? I just realized: they’re in uniform! Notice the stripes on the top right photo–they also show in the bottom left, now that I know where to look. Uniforms of the day were somewhat nonstandard, I think especially for women, which I guess might explain the open-necked blouse vs tie. (Unless there was some weird fad for military stripes on civilian sleeves, but I doubt it.)
Interesting idea! Uniform from what, do you think?
From WW1. There are some similar uniforms pictured on this page, but I’m at a place with a slow internet connection, so I can’t actually read the info here yet.
http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu/osaycanyousee/2011/09/women-in-uniform-world-war-i-edition.html
I see what you mean. Thanks for the link!
After doing a little more uniform research, I’m thinking our wanderers could have been members of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), which included female telephone operators, drivers, canteen workers, etc. (I don’t see any medical insignia on them, and their lapels look more like the AEF than the Nurses’ Corps, but I haven’t found very much detail, so I could be wrong.)
I just noticed that it appears both women switch between the open-necked blouse and the necktie? I have found some pix of “Hello Girls” (telephone operators) wearing the open-necked blouse, and drivers in the necktie and beret, so I thought the different necklines indicated different jobs, but since the uniforms were not 100% standardized (and not provided by the military), they may not have been so clearly separated.
Wow, I’m grateful for all your research! It’s much appreciated. And what you’re finding definitely makes sense for what we’re seeing here. Hopefully you’ll be able to put this information to use when costuming a show someday. 🙂