Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1212

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

1.33 linear feet (7 boxes)

Preferred Citation:

Katharine E. Reichert photograph albums, scrapbooks, and papers, 1934-1979 (bulk: 1951-1953), Ms. Coll. 1212, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1934-1979 (inclusive) and 1951-1953 (bulk)

Creator:

Reichert, Katharine E.

Form:

Photograph albums, Medical equipment, Memorabilia, School yearbooks, Photographs, and Scrapbooks

Abstract:

Katharine "Kay" E. Reichert was an Air Force nurse who served with the Far East Air Force in Japan during the Korean War. After her return to the United States, Reichert earned her B.S. in Nursing Education from the University of Pennsylvania and then her M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The bulk of this collection is comprised of photo albums and scrapbooks documenting daily life and excursions to destinations around Japan. Also included are official and personal papers and ephemera, yearbooks from Reichert's studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and artifacts such as medical bag and equipment, military insignias and honors, and door signs.

Katharine "Kay" E. Reichert (1927-2015) was an Arnold, Pennsylvania native, Air Force nurse, educator, and doctor. After graduating from the Allegheny Valley School of Nursing, she worked as a staff nurse at the Western Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute and the clinic at the University of Pittsburgh before enlisting in the Air Force Nurse Corps in 1950. Reichert was stationed at Maxwell Field in Alabama and Camp Stoneman in California before being sent overseas for service in the Far Eastern Theater. She served in Japan between 1951 and 1953 during the Korean War at both the Johnson and Shiroi Air Base Hospitals. During her service, she attained the rank of first lieutenant. The majority of the photographs in this collection were taken during her time on Johnson or Shiroi Air Base or while traveling to attractions throughout Japan.

After her return to the States, Reichert earned a B.S. in Nursing Education from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in 1956. She continued her studies at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, with help from the GI Bill and earned her M.D. in 1961. She completed her internship at Mary Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover, New Hampshire and completed her residency at the Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. She then practiced rural family medicine in Lyme, New Hampshire from 1963 to 1966 before moving on to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she was a student health physician for sixteen years. After her time at the University of Massachusetts, she served as the director of health services at Hampshire College for seven years. Reichert was also a pioneer in the development of the nurse practitioner movement in Massachusetts, where she taught nurses how to become nurse practitioners and published the book Primary Care of Young Adults in 1976.

This collection consists of photo albums and scrapbooks, official and personal papers and ephemera, yearbooks, and artifacts.

Series I is comprised of a number of photograph albums and scrapbooks primarily chronicling life on Johnson (now Iruma) and Shiroi (now Shimofusa) Air Bases in Japan and in other locales Reichert traveled to while stationed there. Photos mostly depict friends, co-workers, scenery/surroundings, and social gatherings, but there are some photographs documenting hospitals, her work as a nurse, and Japan's post World War II recovery. Scrapbooks include additional travel photographs, as well as other ephemera such as brochures, napkins, maps, cards, postcards, and programs. Some ephemeral materials found in the scrapbooks are entirely in Japanese.

Series II includes newspaper clippings, certificates of service and customs declarations, paperwork regarding Reichert's discharge from service, and ephemera from her time in Japan. It also includes correspondence from Reichert to her parents, William and [Sara] Reichert, and from Austin Pardue, Bishop of Pittsburgh and leader of Reichert's childhood church, to both Reichert and her parents.

Series III is made up of Reichert's University of Pennsylvania yearbooks. There is one volume of Record from 1956 – her senior year – and volumes of the School of Medicine's Scope from 1958, 1960, and 1961, as well as for 1979 when she appears in a list of patrons. The 1956 Record has "University of Pennsylvania Two Hundredth Commencement for the Conferring of Degrees" program laid in at front. The 1960 volume of Scope has "1960-61 U.M.A. Medical School List Second Year Class" and "1960-61 U.M.A. Medical School List Third Year Class" laid in at front.

Series IV includes a wide variety of artifacts such as an Air Force uniform, signs, dog tags, name tags, medals/ribbons, and patches from Reichert's time in the Far East Air Force. Also present in this series is a medical bag containing medical equipment.