Exploring the Diary of a Rochester Volunteer Nurse During the Great War. In the spring of 1918, Esther Steele began her service as a Volunteer Nurse Aide in Evreux, France. Almost daily, she would jot down in her diary about her experiences working in a wartime hospital and treating the wounded soldiers. This presentation will explore what the drafts of her diary reveal about early twentieth-century attitudes towards race and disability.