The origins of the Woman's Relief Corps, the women's auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic, date to the formation of many Christian commissions, sanitary commissions and other relief organizations to which women belonged during the Civil War. During the 1870s the records of the GAR note charity work carried out by women in conjunction with their organization. In 1877 a Woman's Relief Corps was formally organized in Massachusetts as an auxiliary to the GAR in order to aid them in their charitable activities. After several other states followed suit, the GAR authorized a national organization for women in 1881, and an organizational meeting was held in Denver, Colorado in 1883. Unlike the GAR, the organization admitted as members all women committed to its purposes, not just those related to veterans.
The Wisconsin Department of the corps was organized by E. Florence Barker, national president of the Corps, at a meeting in La Crosse in June 1884 of the seven local Wisconsin groups. By 1900 there were 140 corps in the state with a membership of over 5500. A high point in membership was reached shortly after the turn of the century, with 264 posts and 14,000 members.
Like the national organization, the Wisconsin corps were largely concerned with relief activities in behalf of Civil War veterans, widows, and orphans. Gradually their concerns expanded to include Civil War nurses and later to include veterans of all wars. A large part of their efforts went to benefit the Grand Army Home at King, although they also devoted themselves to child welfare, patriotic education, the USO, and anti-drug education. As one of the earliest national organizations for women, the corps also played a role in teaching women about organizational operation and procedure.
As their charitable concerns were assumed by governmental agencies, the Woman's Relief Corps increasingly turned to social activities. By the middle of the twentieth century, the Corps had difficulty in attracting young women, and as the average age of corps members increased many local Wisconsin corps declined and were disbanded.
Additional information concerning the corps and its officers may be found in several unpublished histories included in the collection's materials in paper form (in SC 174).
