Summary Information
Helen C. Bulovsky Papers and Photographs
1914-2001
WVM Mss 536
0.7 linear ft. (2 archives boxes and 3 oversize folders) of papers, 0.4 linear ft. (1 archives box and 1 flat box) of photographs, and 1 compact disc.
Wisconsin Veterans Museum (Map)
Papers and photographs of Helen C. Bulovsky, a Madison native who served with the Army Nurse Corps in Europe during World War I. The letters that she wrote home to her family comprise the largest part of the collection. Bulovsky wrote about her excitement and fears while serving in field hospitals mere miles behind the front lines in Europe. She also wrote about her homesickness and her desire for letters from home. Her diary, which has large gaps, compliments the letters nicely and describes many of the same events. Biographical materials, service records, and obituaries fill in the details about her life and military service. Two maps show the extent of her movements while serving in Europe. Photographs include a scrapbook showing Bulovsky and fellow staff from Madison General Hospital with humorous clippings from periodicals to caption the photos. Other photographs show her and fellow nurses in Army Nurse Corps uniforms, Bulovsky's sisters with war souvenirs that she sent home, and scenic shots from Europe and New York harbor. Also included is a CD of scanned images of a scrapbook that documents Bulovsky's service in Europe during the war.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.wvm-mss00536 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Helen Cunigunda Bulovsky was born April 6, 1895 in Madison, Wisconsin. Her parents, Julius and Anna, were Bohemian immigrants from Austria. They had three other children, Bess, Victoria, and George. Julius died of heart disease in 1906, leaving Anna to raise and support four children. Helen attended Lapham School and graduated from Madison High School in 1914. Her mother married Bohemian widower Frank Lawrence in 1915; Helen gained four step-siblings through the marriage: Elsie, Dorothy, Leo, and Walter.
Bulovsky trained to be a nurse at Madison General Hospital and graduated in October 1917. She practiced as a registered nurse in Dane County until April 1918 when she enlisted into the Army Nurse Corps. She was likely aware that she had heart problems when she enlisted. She was sent to the East Coast and spent time training at U.S. Army General Hospital No. 9 (Lakewood, NJ) before sailing to Europe with Base Hospital No. 22 in June 1918.
She reported for duty in France on June 22. Base Hospital No. 22, composed largely of nurses and doctors from the Milwaukee area, was stationed at a large hospital, built near the French city of Bordeaux, called Beau Desert. In mid-July, Bulovsky transferred to Evacuation Hospital No. 5 and served near the front lines through the beginning of August. The field hospitals she served in were the first line of medical treatment, assessing and treating soldiers directly from the trenches. The doctors and nurses were usually just beyond the artillery range of the opposing forces. While near the front lines, she treated many soldiers from the 32nd “Red Arrow” Division. Bulovsky remained with Evacuation Hospital No. 5 until the end of the war. She was stationed near, and treated wounded soldiers from, the Aisne-Marne, Meuse-Argonne, and Ypres-Lys campaigns.
In October and November 1918 she moved with her unit into Belgium, following the advancing armies of the Allies. After the war ended she was stationed in Dunkerque through mid-January, and she ended her time in Europe back at Beau Desert.
She sailed back to the United States toward the end of February 1919 aboard the S.S. Santa Maria and arrived at the Nurses' Demobilization Station (Hotel Albert) in New York City on March 5. One week later she left New York to return home, arriving in Madison on March 15. She was relieved from the service on April 12, 1919.
Bulovsky married her stepbrother, Walter Lawrence, on May 11, 1922 and settled in Madison. She died of heart disease nine months later, on February 16, 1923, and was buried with full military honors in Calvary Cemetery.
Scope and Content Note
The papers of Helen C. Bulovsky are divided into two series: Papers and Photographs.
Papers (1917-2001) contains materials relating to the World War I service of Bulovsky. Letters written home to her parents and siblings constitute the largest portion of this series. Bulovsky began writing letters home while still training in New Jersey and continued throughout her service in Europe. Her letters reveal a woman who is both a little frightened and homesick, while at the same time exhilarated by the world-shattering events happening right in front of her. Bulovsky discusses service in a field hospital near the front lines and the wounded soldiers, both friend and foe, who come before her. She describes twelve-hour days of standing and bending over patients, of nights interrupted by artillery and airplane fire, and of wet and muddy medical tents. In the same letters she often chides her family for not writing her more often, muses about young doctors and soldiers she's met, and asks for news from home. Also included is a diary kept during the year 1918. There are large gaps in it, but entries describe her time on the East Coast just before going over to Europe and service near the front lines with Evacuation Hospital No. 5. The biographical materials include “Behind the Trenches,” Bulovsky's own account of her wartime experiences, and short pieces written by two of her descendants. Service records show her movements during the war as well as her rate of pay. The obituaries give a sense of the regard in which she was held by the city of Madison. Bulovsky traced the route of her wartime movements on two separate maps of Europe. The ephemeral items include a complete set of humorous British war postcards called “Sketches of Tommy's Life.” The scrapbook, though unidentified, appears to have been given to Bulovsky by a male friend/admirer, probably at the beginning of the war.
Photographs (1914-1919) contains over fifty photographs and a photo scrapbook relating to Bulovsky's nursing career and military service. The scrapbook contains numerous photographs of Bulovsky with fellow nurses and doctors at Madison General Hospital, where she received her training before the war. Along with these photographs are words and sentences cut out from periodicals, usually humorous, that help describe the pictures. The majority of the individual photographs also focus on Bulovsky's nursing career. The series contains shots of her in her Army Nurse Corps uniform and in civilian dress, photos of fellow Army Nurse Corps members, and candids of members of her family, including a picture of Bulovsky's sisters wearing the German helmets and holding swords that she sent home as souvenirs. A photograph taken on her return trip to the United States shows the welcoming sight of the Statue of Liberty.
Also included is a photo CD of scanned images contained in a separate scrapbook of Helen Bulovsky. The images show Bulovsky and fellow nurses in Europe as well as soldiers in bunkers. There are many images that show damage to buildings from combat as well as causalities. The scanned images on the photo CD were taken from original photographs and ephemera contained in another scrapbook of Helen Bulovsky. This particular scrapbook, which documents her time during WWI in Europe, is not in the possession of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. This collection does contain a scrapbook of Bulovsky that documents her time at the Madison General Hospital where she trained to be a nurse.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Janice Collins, Milwaukee, WI, 2001-2003. Accession Number: TR1202, TR1358, Mss 2002.11, Mss 2003.182.. This collection was organized as a result of the National Historic Publications and Records Commission project grant (2003-075).
Processed by Russell Horton in 2003. Reprocessed with additions by Danielle H. Spalenka in 2013.
Contents List
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Series: Papers
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Biographical data, 2001
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Box
1
Folder
2
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"Behind the Trenches," 1919
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Subseries: Correspondence
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Box
1
Folder
3
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From Helen Bulovsky, 1919
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Box
1
Folder
4-5
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To Bess Bulovsky (sister) [with transcriptions] , 1918-1919
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Box
1
Folder
6-7
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To George Bulovsky (brother) [with transcriptions] , 1918
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Box
1
Folder
8-9
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To Victoria Bulovsky (sister) [with transcriptions] , 1918-1919
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Box
1
Folder
10-14
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To Frank and Anna Lawrence (parents) [with transcriptions] , 1918-1919
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Ov
9
Folder
2
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Letter (oversized) to Frank and Anna Lawrence, 1918
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From Others
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Box
1
Folder
15-16
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To Helen Bulovsky [with transcriptions] , 1918-1921
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Box
1
Folder
17
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To Frank and Anna Lawrence
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Box
1
Folder
18-19
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Diary [with transcriptions] , 1918
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Box
2
Folder
1
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Ephemera, circa 1918-1919
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Box
2
Folder
2
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Addresses, circa 1918-1919
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Box
2
Folder
3
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French language lesson, circa 1918
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Box
2
Folder
4
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Poems and songs, undated
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Box
2
Folder
5
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"Sketches of Tommy's Life" postcards, circa 1918
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Ov
5
Folder
18
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Map, Movements in Europe, 1918-1919
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OvDw
1
Folder
10
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Map, Movements in Europe, 1918-1919
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Box
2
Folder
6
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Newspaper clippings, 1917, 1975
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Box
2
Folder
7
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Obituaries, 1923
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Box
2
Folder
8
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Scrapbook (unidentified), circa 1917
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Box
2
Folder
9
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Service records, 1918-1919
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Box
2
Folder
10
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Insurance records, 1918-1919
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Box
2
Folder
11
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Orders, 1917-1919
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Box
2
Folder
12
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Pay records, 1918
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Series: Photographs
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Subseries: People
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Box
3
Folder
1
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Army Nurse Corps nurses [4] , circa 1918
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Helen C. Bulovsky
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Box
3
Folder
2
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Army Nurse Corps uniform [6] , circa 1918
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Box
3
Folder
3
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Civilian attire [6] , 1914-1917
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Box
3
Folder
4
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Lawrence-Bulovsky family members [5] , undated
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Box
3
Folder
5-7
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Madison General Hospital staff [13] , circa 1917
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Box
4
Folder
1
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Photo scrapbook, circa 1917
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Subseries: Places
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Box
3
Folder
8
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Europe, Candids [5] circa 1918
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Box
3
Folder
9
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New York harbor [3] , circa 1919
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Box
3
Folder
10-11
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Unidentified [11] , undated
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CDu
1
Disc
10
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Images of scanned scrapbook, c. 1918
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