Mrs. Joseph R. Lamar. The Women's Committee helped match women with groups that had need for volunteers and also advised the defense council of how women could aid the war effort. Beginning in May 1917, the Council asked individual states to create their own Councils of Defense to assist the federal Council in carrying out its work. There were 48 state Women's Committees formed. Shaw appointed temporary chairs for each state committee in order to coordinate the upcoming war work. Some groups formed separate Women's Committees of National Defense and Southern states, at the urging of the National Council, formed organizations for African Americans. Alice Dunbar Nelson worked as a field representative for the Women's Council. In January 1920, the Council recommended the creation of an Expert Survey Board to conduct research studies over the next six months to enable speedy mobilization in the event of another war. Disestablishment The activities of the Council of National Defense were suspended in 1921. See also Committee on Public Information—Disbanded 1919 and records transferred to CND. National Defense Research Committee Railroads' War Board United States Housing Corporation Footnotes Further reading Records of the Council of National Defense documents the legion of subcommittees to the CND Further reading William J. Breen, Uncle Sam at Home: Civilian Mobilization, Wartime Federalism, and the Council of National Defense, 1917-1919. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984. External links Council of National Defense Government agencies established in 1916 Organizations disestablished in 1921 United States home front during World War I Presidency of Woodrow Wilson Military history of the United States during World War I 1916 establishments in the United States 1921 disestablishments in the United States