Dorothea Miller Post and the Women’s Land Army
By Senior Museum Researcher and Interpreter Cynthia Winslow
Continuing a family tradition of civic involvement established by her great-grandmother Louisa Macculloch (1785–1863) and grandmother Mary Louisa Macculloch Miller (1804–1888), Dorothea “Dolly” (Miller) Post (1878–1947) actively contributed to the Women’s Land Army (WLA) during World War I. Established by women’s universities in the United States, the WLA trained women in farming skills in order to support the agricultural needs of the county.
Modeled on Britain’s “Land Girls,” the WLA’s “Farmerettes”—young women, eighteen years old or older— stepped into roles traditionally held by men who had either enlisted or moved to higher-paying defense jobs. An April 4, 1919, article from The Jerseyman, published two years after the United States entered World War I (April 6, 1917), featured an interview with Dorothea in her role as chairman of the Morris County WLA unit describing how the program operated in the area. documents the community’s collective efforts to support the “Farmerettes” and outlines the plans for the 1919 season.
Without federal funding—even though President Woodrow Wilson recognized the WLA’s impact on combating food shortages—local units relied instead on local and regional initiatives. The Morristown unit’s headquarters—also serving as residence for “Farmerettes”—was located at 23 Maple Avenue, just north of Macculloch Hall, in a property loaned by the Spingler and Van Buren Estate. As Dorothea observed, “The success of the work and the well-being of the workers may be directly attributed to the ideal living conditions that the splendid home afforded.”
Transportation needs were met through the donation of an automobile by Mrs. Charles Bradley, without which, Dorothea noted, “the transportation problem could not have been solved.”
The growing season ran from May to September. In 1918, as many as sixty local “Farmerettes” worked eight-hour days completing a range of agricultural tasks. Collectively, they contributed 1,322 days of labor for thirty-six employers. Earning $15 per month—the same wage as male laborers—the “Farmerettes” were often college students, teachers, or secretaries, many of whom were also active in the suffrage movement.
The WLA’s operations were overseen by a managing committee of twelve local women, chaired by Dorothea and included her mother, Katherine Wise Miller (1853-1940). At the same time Dorothea managed these responsibilities she was raising three sons—James, Edward, and Richard—under the age of ten, while her husband, James Otis Post (1873–1951), served during the war.
Documents from the Library of Congress’ online resource, Echoes of the Great War: American Experience of World War I, identifies New Jersey WLA units as some of the most productive nation-wide as well as the most financially sound because of the existing networks of women’s organizations in the state.
Contemporary accounts attest to the quality and significance of their work. Members of the Garden Club of Morristown provided moral and financial support for the young “Farmerettes”. One member wrote, “The girls who worked in the Land Army were many who knew nothing about country or farm work, but they did very good work…taking care of chickens, milking cows, and pitching hay.”
One of the employers, H. E. Niese of Hill Terrace Farms remarked, “It gives me a great deal of pleasure to tell you that the work done by the girls of the Land Army…has been greatly appreciated. In all cases the work was done by them cheerfully and efficiently…at a time it was greatly needed.”
An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 women from 40 states and the District of Columbia served in the Women’s Land Army of America during World War I. Their efforts helped pave the way for the next generation of women to step forward again during World War II—this time with the right to vote.
In 2017, MHHM commemorated the centennial of the WLA’s founding (December 1917) with the exhibition Women Warriors on the Home Front: Dorothea Miller Post and Morristown’s Women’s Land Army. Researched by MHHM’s volunteer archivist and former Board member, Al Giraldi, through a collaboration with The Morristown and Morris Township Free Public Library, the exhibit included documents and photographs that preserve the work of Morristown’s WLA unit. These materials continue to illuminate women’s contributions to the wartime home front.
Revisiting these sources nearly a decade later reminds us that women actively engaged in civic and national service prior to securing the right to vote through the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on August 18, 1920.
Dorothea was the last generation of Macculloch descendants to reside at Macculloch Hall. Following her death in 1947, the property was sold to W. Parsons Todd, who established MHHM in 1950.
MHHM is proud to share the stories and accomplishments of women like Dorothea Miller Post through its interpretation at Morristown’s community museum, Macculloch Hall.
