Photo of Surgeons on Board the Red Cross Mercy Ship

Surgeons on Board the Red Cross Mercy Ship, 1914

Hopkins involvement in the European conflict began well before US entry in 1917. Warfare abroad awakened a humanitarian impulse among members of America’s Europhile upper classes. Domestic civilian relief organizations, like the American Red Cross, also refocused their missions to help relieve suffering in the crisis. Many Americans who could afford it seized the opportunity to travel oversees as neutral volunteers. The artifacts and stories here explore the experiences of the Hopkins surgeons and nurses who made those early journeys.