Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

YMCA One of the Thousand YMCA Girls in France
1918
Neysa Moran Mcmein (1888-1949)
USA: New York, New York
Paper
overall: 29 x 43 in.
Gift of The Galford Family
A2003/030/4

Chromolithograph World War I poster; YMCA woman in cape and uniform with steaming cup of coffee and books in hand in front of looming YMCA symbol; poster also advertises the United War Work Campaign held during November 1918

Object labels, “’Americans, Do Your Bit’: World War I in Posters” Opened 3 June 2017 One of the Thousand YMCA Girls in France, 1918 Neysa Moran McMein (1888-1949) Gift of the Galford Family, A2003/030/4 Despite initial controversy, in July of 1917, for the first time, the U.S. branch of the YMCA allowed women volunteers. YMCA leadership, backed by General John J. Pershing (1860-1948), endorsed this change. A small group of women, mostly Americans already living in France, soon began YMCA work in Paris and other locations. Many worked organizing recreation, and cooking and serving food in ports, in troop training camps, and behind the lines.