A nurse from the Brazilian Expeditionary Force in the Second World War: The Virgínia Portocarrero archive at Casa de Oswaldo Cruz/Fiocruz

Abstract

This study investigates the potential of the Virgínia Portocarrero archive, at Casa de Oswaldo Cruz/Fiocruz. It was donated in life by Portocarrero, a Brazilian nurse and Second World War veteran. The documents include records from her education and training and show evidence of a determination to preserve her memories from the frontline and after the war, in a symbolic battle to record an essentially female story in a characteristically male setting. The archive contains a broad variety of types of historical sources, notably a diary on her participation in the conflict, demonstrating everyday and unusual aspects of her work as a health professional at that dramatic time in human history.