Iron Mountain And The Women In Military Service For America Memorial Foundation Announce New Project To Preserve Rare Spanish-American War Collection

BOSTON and ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), the global leader in storage and information management services, today announced its support of the preservation of the Spanish-American War collection at the Women In Military Service For America Memorial, the only major national memorial honoring all women who have defended America since the American Revolution.

The announcement marked the anniversary of the end of the war between Spain and America with the signing of a peace protocol in Washington, D.C. on August 12, 1898.

Iron Mountain's financial support will enable the Women's Memorial Foundation to digitize its significant Spanish-American War collection, which documents the superior service of the more than 1,500 contract nurses who served in the Army and Navy general hospitals, aboard the hospital ship Relief, in stateside camps, the Philippine Islands, Puerto Rico and Hawaii during the conflict. The collection includes hundreds of photographs, service documents, letters, news clippings, and irreplaceable artifacts from 1898; once digitized, the collection will be used in future permanent exhibits at the Women's Memorial as well as for a digital, online archive that will be available for researchers and the public. Iron Mountain's support comes through its Living Legacy Initiative, the company's commitment to preserve and make accessible cultural and historical information and artifacts through financial and in-kind services grants.

"We're proud to partner with the Women's Memorial Foundation in their effort to preserve this vital piece of history chronicling the sacrifice of women in service to their country," said Chris Smith, senior vice president of Records Management and Regional General Manager, Iron Mountain. "We share their mission to ensure the stories of these courageous women patriots in the Spanish-American War are preserved and accessible for all generations."

The Memorial, situated at the ceremonial entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, was dedicated in 1997. It is the foremost memorial and education center honoring women in all branches of military service throughout our Nation's history. Nearly 3 million women have served in the military since the American Revolution, yet the stories of these courageous patriots are largely untold. The Women's Memorial Collection houses more than 4,000 donations, including those from the Spanish-American War. The digitization of these items will be used in the Women's Memorial's revitalized website and exhibits.

"We are profoundly grateful that Iron Mountain's support of this digitization will allow us to make these women's invaluable contributions visible to the world," said retired Army Major General Jan Edmunds, chair of the board of the Women's Memorial Foundation. "The exceptional service of the dedicated and determined nurses who participated in the Spanish-American War created a lasting legacy and made possible the establishment of the Army Nurse Corps giving women a permanent place in the U.S. Armed Forces."

During the Spanish-American War, women nurses were contracted by the U.S. military to work when U.S. military medical departments were overwhelmed by outbreaks of infectious diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, and typhoid that felled more troops than battlefield injuries. 4,600 men died from diseases while only 400 died in combat. Many nurses also succumbed to disease.

"I am thrilled to be able to share these fabulous items with the public," Britta Granrud, curator of collections for the Women In Military Service For America Foundation. "It has been my dream to be able to share these fascinating resources that until now only I and a few others have been privileged to see."

The Women In Military Service For American Foundation serves as a research repository for organizations, individuals, media, book authors, and students. The Foundation maintains a vast collection that continues to grow as today's servicewomen take on new roles and participate in every aspect of our national defense. The Foundation's research library includes nearly 1,000 books by and about military women, photographic and document archives, personal and military-issue artifacts, memoirs and oral histories.  Additionally, the Women's Memorial hosts the largest database of individual women's stories of service registered by those who served, or their families.  

About the Women In Military Service For America Memorial
The Women In Military Service For America Memorial is the only major national memorial honoring all women who have defended America throughout history from the American Revolution to the present. The Memorial is proud to recognize their devoted patriotism and courage as an integral part of our National heritage.  The mission of the Women In Military Service For America Memorial and Education Center is to tell the story of women's service to the Nation. Our goal is to make the history of women in the military—past and present—come alive as we honor their service.

About Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), founded in 1951, is the global leader for storage and information management services. Trusted by more than 225,000 organizations around the world, and with a real estate network of more than 90 million square feet across more than 1,450 facilities in approximately 50 countries, Iron Mountain stores and protects billions of valued assets, including critical business information, highly sensitive data, and cultural and historical artifacts. Providing solutions that include information management, digital transformation, secure storage, secure destruction, as well as data centers, cloud services and art storage and logistics, Iron Mountain helps customers lower cost and risk, comply with regulations, recover from disaster, and enable a digital way of working. Visit http://www.ironmountain.com for more information.

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