Radiation Lab Group 23, 1945
Group portrait of Radiation Laboratory Airport Maintenance (Group 23) in Bedford, MA; appears in Five Years at the Radiation Laboratory (1946), an anniversary publication presented by MIT to Members of the Radiation Laboratory, 12 September 1945. Portrait includes staff members Lauretta Reid and Louise Gaskins (bottom row, first two from left).
Widespread military enlistment during World War II left a vacuum in the American industrial labor force. MIT's hiring trends during this period reflected the country's. Between 1940 and 1945, the Institute increased recruitment of black and women research staff at the Radiation Laboratory and other wartime emergency units.