https://www.va.gov/HISTORY/100_Objects/
If you wanted to create an album of your family’s history but were limited to 100 items, what would you put in and what would you leave out? These were the questions that the VA History staff asked in compiling the History of VA in 100 Objects virtual exhibit. The exhibit explores the history of the nation’s efforts to honor and reward Veterans for their service by spotlighting objects that tell key parts of the VA story. The objects span the centuries, from the earliest laws governing disability claims for Revolutionary War soldiers to the latest medical gear to protect VA workers and Veterans from the COVID-19 pandemic. The exhibit is being published serially throughout 2022 and 2023, with new entries appearing Thursdays at the rate of one or two per week. Entries from previous weeks are available for viewing on the GALLERY PAGE. We hope you will join us as we embark on this year-long journey through VA’s past, object by object.
By Katie Rories. Historian, Veterans Health Administration
While many stories in the Bible have resonance for readers, the Book of Job held extra meaning for Civil War Veterans living at the Central Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS) in Dayton, Ohio. The 1861 edition of the Bible that was used in countless services at the Dayton chapel displays telltale color changes to certain pages due to light exposure and cracking along one part of the binding. These blemishes suggest that it was frequently opened to the chapters relating Job’s story. The sermons given by Reverend William B. Earnshaw about Job, a righteous man tested beyond measure, must have provided relief and comfort to the ex-soldiers who had witnessed and endured the horrors of battle.
The Dayton Bible highlights the important role that religious faith and chaplains played in the lives of the National Home residents as well as later generations of Veterans. When the NHDVS system was established in 1867, chaplains like Earnshaw were provided housing on the different National Home campuses and paid a salary of $1,500 per year plus forage for one horse. Religious services were held for both Protestant and Catholic Veterans and large weekly attendance numbers resulted in “much good, and largely contributed to the moral improvement of the mend and the peace and good order of the establishment.”
Left: Earliest known image of the chapel built in 1870 out of limestone quarried by Veterans from the grounds of the Dayton National Home; right: Reverend Earnshaw, who ministered to Union soldiers in the Civil War and afterwards served as the official Protestant chaplain at Dayton from 1867 until his death in 1885. (Dayton VA Medical Center archives)
As the network of Soldiers Homes and later Veterans hospitals expanded across the nation in the early 1900s, ministry became a largely part-time affair performed by civilian clergy from the surrounding community. World War Two changed everything, as sixteen million Veterans returned home, many needing medical assistance from the Veterans Administration. VA established a Chaplain Service in 1945 in the Department of Medicine and Surgery and named Reverend Crawford W. Brown, a former Army chaplain, as its first director. In the post-World War Two period, as the service was formalized, it added chaplains of different faiths and became an integral part of the care Veterans received at VA facilities. Chaplains made rounds, providing counseling and comfort to patients. They also led services in hospital chapels.
In 1964, the Veterans Administration Chaplain School was established at the Jefferson Barracks VA Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, to better equip and train chaplains to meet the specific needs of Veterans. Today, there are over 800 full- and part-time chaplains representing a spectrum of religious faiths and traditions. Furthermore, every VA hospital contains a chapel for reflection and services. While the program has grown and evolved from the earliest days of Reverend Earnshaw’s ministry, the mission remains largely the same as it was in the 1870s: "To assure Veterans and their families the best possible spiritual guidance, religious services, and care.”
Reflecting its significance, the Dayton Bible was selected as the first object to be officially placed into the collection of the National VA History Center in 2021. The chapel where Reverend Earnshaw once preached from that copy of the Bible about the trials of Job still serves as a house of worship for Veterans and their families of the Protestant religion.
Click on this link to see a short video on the VA Chaplain Service.
We have worked hard to capture VA’s complex and varied history in the exhibit, but our list of 100 objects is not set in stone. We invite readers to submit their own suggestions of objects to include in the exhibit. Send your ideas to [email protected]. If we like your suggestion, we will write it up and give you full credit when the entry on your object appears on the website.