Certificate of Membership in the American Red Cross Life Saving Corps is white with black printing and a red cross at the top of the certificate. Issued to Mille Gade Corson, August 27, 1920. Mille Gade Corson, the second woman to swim the English Channel, three weeks after Gertrude Ederle's record breaking Channel swim emigrated to the United States from Denmark in 1919 and became a Life Saving Instructor and Lifeguard at the Harlem branch of the YWCA. In 1921 she became the second woman to swim around Manhattan Island and attempted to swim the English Channel in 1923 but was forced to abandon the effort 2 miles from the French coast. After her successful 1926 swim Corson returned to the US to many accolades and performed on the vaudeville circuit as the first mother to swim the English Channel.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.