1919 Correspondence Addressed to WWI Nurse Ann Cléophas Mullarkey from Le Bien-Être du Blessé

France, 1919. Very good. Toning, spotting, the occasional short tear.. A group of four (4) letters from the Franco-American organization Le Bien-Être du Blessé addressed to Ann Cléophas Mullarkey, an American nurse who served in France during the war and assisted the organization in the war's immediate aftermath. From the letters we glean that Mullarkey was awarded a Medaille d'Honneur by the French government, in part at the urging of the B.E.B.'s founder, Madeleine Ives Goddard, Marquise d'Andigné (1874-1931). The most interesting letter here is from the Marquise herself, and instructs Mullarkey to "begin packing up your kitchen [i.e. the volunteer (truncated) run kitchen she had been managing towards the end of the war in France] and please try to pack it in as many cases as you can. We are sadly in need of cases. Try to STEAL a lot if you cannot manage any other way. I will try to send up two motors about the 28th that will run backwards and forwards until all is done" (dated 23 Jan. 1919). In total there are four letters, the largest of which measures approx. 10.5" by 8.25". Three are handwritten in ink, and one is typewritten. Each is accompanied by their original addressed and postmarked envelope (approx. 4.5" by 5.75"). Two of the envelopes have been used as scratch paper by Mullarkey, noting logistics for her travel arrangements to go back home to America on a steamer ship. A vivid look into the life of an American nurse in 1919 France, grappling with the immediate aftermath of the war. (Inventory #: 24001290)