Billie H. Strmiska shipbuilding memorabilia, 1942-1945

The collection consists of newspaper clippings, publications, correspondence, images, and ephemera gathered by Billie H. Strmiska relating to her career as a shipyard welder during World War II in Portland, Oregon. A substantial amount of the collection concerns Strmiska's participation in welding contests in 1943, culminating in a national championship held at the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation in Pascagoula, Mississippi. These include newspaper clippings; issues of the Bo's'n's Whistle, a shipyard publication, with mentions about Strmiska; contest rules; photographs (prints and digitized images); correspondence; the transcript of a radio program that included an interview with Strmiska; and ephemera. Other materials in the collection consist of a letter certifying that Strmiska completed 130 hours of training in welding; a photocopy of a letter from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation manager Albert Bauer, which Bauer forwarded to Strmiska; a commemorative publication for Commercial Iron Works; an issue of The Victory Fleet that discusses women shipyard workers; and additional issues of the Bo's'n's Whistle.