An American Nurse At War is the title of a documentary film to be shown on Sunday, November 9, 2014, at 2:30 pm for the annual meeting and program of the Brattleboro Historical Society at the Brattleboro History Center located in the Masonic Center building at 196 Main Street, Brattleboro.
The film chronicles the experience of Marion McCune Rice of Brattleboro who went to France one hundred years ago to care for injured soldiers during World War I. Rice was born in Brattleboro in 1882 and graduated from Brattleboro High School in 1900 before attending Smith College and nursing school at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. She was the sister of Howard Crosby Rice, longtime publisher of the Brattleboro Reformer, and spent summers at her home on Chestnut Hill.
Marion McCune Rice was also an accomplished photographer, and her collection of World War I materials included over 300 negatives, 500 photos, and 200 photo postcards. Her greatnephew, Steve Hooper, a newspaper photographer in Keene, NH, has been instrumental in producing a 34-minute film using Rice’s photos to document her four years in France. Professor Thomas Durnford of Keene State College will share comments on the nurse/soldier relationship drawing on the photos and some of Rice’s letters. Several poignant exhibition quality photographs taken by Rice will be on display at the History Center.
The program is free and open to the public. The Masonic Center is handicap accessible by entering the back door. There will be a brief business meeting of Brattleboro Historical Society members to elect trustees prior to the showing of the film .
For information call John Carnahan 802-254-8398.
(Image: Brattleboro native Marion McCune Rice (1882-1955) is shown wearing the Red Cross nursing uniform which she wore while serving in France during World War I. )
