Women in 1917-1919 were heavily involved in the war effort. They served on the homefront sewing clothes, gathering supplies, and even went overseas to help in Europe. Julia Scott Vrooman was one of several women affiliated with Illinois State Normal University featured in ISNU’s World War I service records collection who experienced the horrors of war as she traveled from camp to camp with her jazz band.
Vrooman was born into a prominent McLean County family on October 4, 1876. Her uncle, Aldai E. Stevenson I, became the vice president of the United States under Grover Cleveland in 1886. She met her husband, Carl, in 1894 while traveling in Europe. They settled in Bloomington in 1900 in her mother’s home, the Vrooman Mansion. Carl began to study agriculture and was appointed the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. The couple moved to Washington D.C. During this time, Vrooman became a popular hostess and was well known for her whole wheat bread recipe, which was requested by the Queen of England and Eleanor Roosevelt. Though she was not an ISNU student or worked for the University, she was a prominent member of the community, and she supplied a letter, photos, and a survey to the collection.
In the November 2, 1978 Entertainment Guide from the Vidette, she is described as a “charming Washington hostess, [who] was also a deeply religious woman who showed genuine concern for the suffering of others less fortunate.” Though she was involved in her community, she rejected the title of a “society woman,” with a quote from her friend, “People always thought Julia was a little bit exclusive because of her wealth, but she was very real and not the least bit high hat.”
In August 1918, Carl went to England, France, and Italy, to assess the “war problems of agricultural production” along with others in the Food and Drug Administration and the military. Vrooman wanted to contribute to the war effort overseas as well and was quoted, “I have no children. I am in perfect health. I am fortunate enough to be able to speak both French and Italian. If instead of looking for an opportunity to get into war work, I were looking for an excuse to avoid it, I could not find one.” In an article from the Pantagraph in 1976 celebrating her 100th birthday, she said many of her friends in Washington ‘weren’t happy‘ to go overseas, so “she followed these unhappy soldiers to Europe and worked to spread happiness.”
Vrooman traveled with her husband and joined the YMCA’s entertainment division. She started at the YMCA headquarters in Paris and collected instruments from the government to organize a jazz band. She traveled to different camps with the band to provide entertainment for the soldiers.
Carl went back to the States in April 1919, but Vrooman stayed until December 1919. At the end of the war, she went to Germany, France, and Belgium with the soldiers and traveled to camps there. She spent time with the “Lost Tribes,” a group of soldiers who were detached from three separate units just before those units were sent home. She also provided food for her “cocoa parties” for the troops.
After the war, Vrooman continued her charity work by holding a Russian-Near East Relief carnival that raised $6,000 (or $86,000 in 2016), the biggest charity event in Bloomington at the time, and she advocated for the World Court, now known as the International Court of Justice. She and Carl held more events at the mansion in Bloomington while they both were active members of different organizations in the community. They donated a portion of their home for patients during the flu pandemic of 1918-1919 and soldiers and their families in World War II.
Vrooman died on May 30, 1981, at 104 years old. The Vrooman Center, located between Hamilton and Manchester Halls, was named in the couple’s honor after they donated to the University. It was originally the dining hall for the dorms but was repurposed in 2008 to house the Julia N. Visor Academic Center.
Visit the World War I Illinois State Normal University Service Records for more Illinois State Normal University students, faculty, and staff experience in World War I.
