{"id":114946,"date":"2024-03-27T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/?p=114946"},"modified":"2026-04-20T16:04:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T20:04:54","slug":"occupational-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/occupational-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"New Skills, New Freedoms:\u00a0Occupational Therapy Artifacts from\u00a0the National VA History Center\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kb-image114946_494530-49 .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}.kb-image114946_494530-49 img.kb-img, .kb-image114946_494530-49 .kb-img img{border-top:0px solid #000000;border-right:0px solid #000000;border-bottom:0px solid #000000;border-left:0px solid #000000;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kb-image114946_494530-49 img.kb-img, .kb-image114946_494530-49 .kb-img img{border-top:0px solid #000000;border-right:0px solid #000000;border-bottom:0px solid #000000;border-left:0px solid #000000;}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kb-image114946_494530-49 img.kb-img, .kb-image114946_494530-49 .kb-img img{border-top:0px solid #000000;border-right:0px solid #000000;border-bottom:0px solid #000000;border-left:0px solid #000000;}}<\/style>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image114946_494530-49 size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/new.express.adobe.com\/webpage\/csgJfVCjGiSlz\" class=\"kb-advanced-image-link\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/03\/047-Banner.png?w=1280\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/03\/047-Banner.png?w=1280\" alt=\"New Skills, New Freedoms: Occupational Therapy Artifacts from the National VA History Center\" class=\"lazyload kb-img wp-image-114952\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271280%27%20height%3D%27720%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201280%20720%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271280%27%20height%3D%27720%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/03\/047-Banner.png?resize=300,169 300w, https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/03\/047-Banner.png?resize=600,338 600w, https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/03\/047-Banner.png?resize=768,432 768w, https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/03\/047-Banner.png 1280w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Veterans engaged in activities and learned\u00a0trades at the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/exhibits\/national-homes-postcards\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"104292\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National Home for Disabled\u00a0Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS)<\/a>\u00a0since its inception\u00a0after the Civil War, formal occupational therapy\u00a0programs became components of\u00a0rehabilitative care for Veterans beginning in the\u00a020th century. This exhibit explores what type of activities were used to treat Veterans, to include items in the collection at the <a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/va-history-center\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"113148\">National VA History Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While Veterans engaged in activities and learned\u00a0trades at the\u00a0National Home for Disabled\u00a0Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS)\u00a0since its inception\u00a0after the Civil War, formal occupational therapy\u00a0programs became components of\u00a0rehabilitative care for Veterans beginning in the\u00a020th century. This exhibit explores what type of activities were used to treat Veterans by showing items from the collection at the National VA History Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[27,23,17,91,94,32,8],"class_list":["post-114946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibits","tag-civil-war","tag-national-home-for-disabled-volunteer-soldiers","tag-national-va-history-center","tag-veterans-benefits","tag-veterans-health-administration","tag-world-war-i","tag-world-war-ii"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/occupational-therapy\/","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"New Skills, New Freedoms:\u00a0Occupational Therapy Artifacts from\u00a0the National VA History Center\u00a0","url":"http:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/occupational-therapy\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/occupational-therapy\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/03\/6.0-Woodworking-Shop-Bldg-302-1960s.jpg?w=300","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/03\/6.0-Woodworking-Shop-Bldg-302-1960s.jpg"},"articleSection":"Exhibits and Story Maps","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Department of Veterans Affairs (smw)"}],"creator":["Department of Veterans Affairs (smw)"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"VA History","logo":""},"keywords":["civil war","national home for disabled volunteer soldiers","national va history center","veterans benefits","veterans health administration","world war i","world war 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