Alternate Extent Statement: One CD-ROM

Access: The papers are open for research.

Use: Copyright held by the donor has been transferred to The University of Iowa.

Acquisition: The papers (donor no. 1197) were donated by Lowell Langland in 2010.

Preferred Citation: Margaret Langland Johnson papers, Iowa Women's Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City.

Repository:	Iowa Women's Archives
Address:	100 Main Library University of Iowa Libraries Iowa City, IA 52242
Phone:	319-335-5068
Curator:	Kären Mason
Email:	lib-women@uiowa.edu
Website:	http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa

Margaret Lillian Langland was born on January 2, 1912 in Williams, Iowa, to Severin and Nellie Langland. She had three sisters (Dolores, Gladys and Arleane) and three brothers (Floyd, Francis and Lowell). Margaret Langland graduated from Ellsworth High School in 1929. In 1933, she graduated from the Iowa Lutheran Hospital School of Nursing in Des Moines, Iowa. She lived in Story County, working at the Mary Greeley Hospital for a number of years before entering the Army Nurses Corps in 1942. She served overseas for 23 months and in 1946 received an honorable discharge as First Lieutenant. After World War II, Langland married Jasper Allen Johnson on September 11, 1952 in Las Vegas, Nevada. After her husband's death in 1965 in Santa Monica, California, Margaret Johnson worked as a nurse at the Veterans Hospital for 25 years. She received an award from the U.S. Government for being an outstanding nurse on June 28, 1961. Margaret Langland Johnson passed away July 12, 1972 in Santa Monica, California.

The Margaret Langland Johnson papers date from 1925 to 1972 and measure 5 linear inches.
 
The Biographical series (1925-1972) contains a diary written by Margaret Langland about her 19th birthday and her time as a nursing student at the Iowa Lutheran Hospital School of Nursing in Des Moines, Iowa. Her career as a nurse is documented through papers issued by the U.S. Government, her World War II discharge papers and United States Government Office Memoranda from 1956 to 1965 which are annual reviews of Margaret Johnson's performance and responsibilities. A pamphlet from the 1940s, "That Men Must Live", outlines "that good soldier- the army nurse".
 
The majority of the papers consist of correspondence between Margaret and her brother Lowell Langland and the rest of her family during World War II. Some of the earlier letters are from her 23 months abroad in Europe to her family. A story she wrote, "Tendring" tells of her experience living with an elderly couple in England during the months preceding D-Day. A photograph album details her nursing activities and the people she met during her travels to Tennessee, Britain, Germany, Belgium and France during World War II.

This collection is indexed under the following subject terms.

Personal Names:
Johnson, Margaret Langland, 1912-1972

Corporate Names:
Iowa Lutheran Hospital (Des Moines, Iowa), School of Nursing
United States Army, Nurse Corps

Dates:
20th century
1940-1949

Topics:
Women and war
World War, 1939-1945
Military nursing
Women in medicine

Occupations:
Nurses
Nursing students

Geographic Names:
United States -- Iowa -- Story County
Europe
England

Genre/Form of Materials:
Diaries
Archives
Correspondence
Personal papers
Photograph albums
Photographs

Browse:
Nurses and Nursing Education
Women and War
Women in Wartime
Autobiographical Resources: Diaries, Memoirs and Oral Histories