Scope and Content Note

The Frances Patai Oral Histories on Women Medical Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War consist of 36 audiocassettes, which were separated from the Francis Patai Papers (ALBA 131). The interviews were conducted by Patai in the period 1985 to 1992, in the course of research for her book project on U.S. women medical personnel who vounteered during the Spanish Civil War. Most are with the women who volunteered as nurses, but also included are interviews with Abraham Lincoln Brigade veterans Moe Fishman and Steve Nelson, and with Marion Wachtel, widow of ALB volunteer Robert Merriman. Drafts of Patai's planned book, and her article "Heroines of the Good Fight: Testimonies of U.S. Volunteer Nurses in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939" (Nursing History Review, 3 (1995): 79-104), which utilizes the interviews in this collection, can be found in the Patai Papers (ALBA 131). Also included in the collection are tapes of a conference and a veterans' dinner, and a recording of Spanish Civil War songs.