Digital Commons Network^™

Oral History/ Betsy Babb, Natalia Pena

World War II

No abstract provided.

Kerr, David Warren, 1922-1982 (Sc 2954), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2954. Letter of David Kerr, 14-16 November 1944, to Frances Ann Wade, Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Writing from an undisclosed overseas location while serving in the armed forces, he describes his surroundings in general and his work on a painting detail. He also encloses a marksman’s medal (not included in this collection) and praises the athletic achievements of his hometown Ohio high school.

Suffering Sisters, Silent Majorities, And Societal Oppression: Comparing The Anti-War Themes And Strategies Of Kurt Vonnegut’S Slaughterhouse-Five And Katherine Anne Porter’S “Pale Horse, Pale Rider”, Melissa N. Miller

Senior Honors Theses

Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Katherine Anne Porter’s “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” are quite dissimilar in style, but these two works convey overall anti-war themes. The works were written in different eras, portray different wars, and are strongly influenced by the lives of the authors themselves; however, these unique factors work together in both works to convey similar messages regarding war’s oppressive nature and corruption of mankind. Vonnegut and Porter employ various methods to communicate these messages, some unique to the respective works and some shared by the two. The characters of Montana Wildhack and Miranda Gay—two oppressed female characters imprisoned …

Oral History/ Alexis Hartline: Patricia Shadden- Growing Up On The Home Front During Wwii, Alexis C. Hartline

World War II

No abstract provided.

Women And World War Ii At Gettysburg College, Keira B. Koch

Student Publications

An examination of the women attending Gettysburg College during World War II. This project examined what the women did and experienced during the World War II, along with analyzing campus culture and life.

Davidson, Benjamin Gideon, Iii, 1914-1998 (Mss 559), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 559. Letters to Benjamin Gideon Davidson “B.G.,” III, Bowling Green, Kentucky, written primarily by female friends when he was a student at Bowling Green High School and Centre College, Danville, Kentucky. Includes some letters from his mother and miscellaneous papers.

Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945 - Letter To (Sc 2926), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2926. “A Letter to Hitler” from “America,” handwritten on letterhead of The Armored Force, Fort Knox, Kentucky. The mocking letter describes in explicit verse what awaits Hitler when U.S. forces arrive in Berlin.

Ms-177: Lillian Quinn Letter Collection, Avery N. Fox

All Finding Aids

The collection consists primarily of letters written from Lillian Quinn to Lillian Carling. The letters span from January 27, 1937 to August 8, 1949 and focus on family health, activities, and troubles of the Quinn family, as well as their opinions about World War II and how it impacts the family.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website https://www.gettysburg.edu/special-collections/collections/.

Browning, James Clarence, 1914-1942 (Mss 556), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 556. Letters of U.S. Army officer J.C. Browning to his wife Lila (Hardcastle) Browning, written during his World War II military service. Browning was killed in North Africa on 8 November 1942. Includes letters of condolence to his wife, papers relating to his military service, and miscellaneous family cards and letters.

Givens, Wayne, 1905-1971 (Sc 2918), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2918. U.S. Army discharge papers and certificate of Wayne Givens, Monroe County, Kentucky, 1945; photostat of death certificate of Wayne Givens, 1971. Also includes Statement of Personal history form of Givens’ wife, Mildred (Hagan) Givens, with data on education, employment, etc.

Ms-178: David Woods ’52 Papers, Kathryn Shirey

All Finding Aids

The David Woods Collections consists primarily of letters Woods wrote during his time serving in the Army, stationed in the Philippines. The letters are from August 1, 1946 to September 10, 1947. He was a consistent writer and sent letters home usually at least once a week. A concerned man, he frequently apologizes to his parents, and for not writing more often. All of the letters, except one, are addressed to his family, including his mother, Margaret McGaughy Woods, his father, David Walker Woods II and his little brother, William A. Woods. He liked to take photos and send them …

Rasdall Family Papers (Mss 542), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 542. Correspondence and papers of the Rasdall and Smith families of Smiths Grove, Kentucky, principally the two generations following Urias Rasdall (1812-1892), credited with platting the town of Smiths Grove. Includes research collected into a family history by Barbara Schan.

The Lover's Cup, Kimberlee Relyea Guin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This documentary film, The Lover's Cup is the story of a former Naval Officer from World War II, Dr. Phillip Trapp, who took Marines into the battle of Iwo Jima and lived to see the flag being raised on Mt. Suribachi. This 55-minute film explores his life experiences before, during and following World War II. His first-hand experiences are used to illustrate the Social and psychological impact of the Great Depression and World War II and his journey to overcome his adversity and create positive changes in the world through his subsequent education and service at the University of Arkansas …

Poo-Tee-Weet? Unintelligent Things To Say About A Massacre: Vonnegut’S Slaughterhouse Five And Us Interventions In The Post-Wwii Era, Kelly A. Mcardle

Honors Scholar Theses

While fighting in Europe during WWII, Kurt Vonnegut was taken prisoner and sent to work at a German prison camp where he witnessed one of the most destructive events of WWII, the firebombing of Dresden, Germany by the Allied forces. Although Vonnegut was liberated in 1945, the novel about the events he witnessed was not published until 1969. What happened in the intervening years to shape the novel that would eventually become Slaughterhouse Five? As Vonnegut grappled with his experiences for two decades, American leaders increased American involvement around the world. The explanations used to justify these interventions have …

On The Fields Of Glory: A Student’S Reflections On Gettysburg, The Western Front, And Normandy, Kevin P. Lavery

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

I’m very fortunate to have had no shortage of opportunities to get out into the field and put my classroom learning into practice. I am especially lucky to have twice had the opportunity to travel to Europe. Two years ago, I went with my first-year seminar to explore the Western Front of World War I in France and Belgium. This year, I travelled with The Eisenhower Institute to tour the towns and beaches of Normandy where the Allies launched their invasion of Hitler’s Europe during World War II. Having experienced these notable sites of military history, and having taken a …

Honorable Mention Contest Entry: A “Land You Could Not Escape Yet Almost Didn’T Want To Leave:” Japanese American Identity In Manzanar Internment Camp Gardens, Mckenzie P. Tavoda

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is McKenzie Tavoda's submission for the 2014-2015 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won honorable mention. She wrote about Japanese American identity in the Manzanar Internment Camp gardens. You can read the final essay that came out of her research here.

Ms-171: Corporal Luther Jacob “Jake” Thomas Papers, Margaret J. Meyers, Jenna E. Fleming

All Finding Aids

This collection consists of letters, photographs, documents, and artifacts relating to Luther J. “Jake” Thomas’s military service during the Second World War. The majority of the collection features correspondence between Thomas and his family, particularly his mother Anna Thomas, between 1943 and 1945. While serving as an MP in the Army Air Corps, Thomas regularly mailed letters and photographs home detailing his training, travels, and experiences as a soldier. The collection also includes Thomas’s military documentation (for example, induction and separation papers), training materials, wartime souvenirs and artefacts, and post-war awards and honors. The collection includes documents related to Thomas’s …

Brite, Henry Dearing, 1906-1976 (Mss 532), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding Aid only for Manuscripts Collections 532. Letters, programs, invitations, photographs and other political and social mementoes of Elizabeth Brite and her husband Henry, collected primarily during their years in Washington, D.C. when Elizabeth was secretary to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s press secretary, Jonathan W. Daniels.

Ms-173: Leo Jarboe Papers, Abby M. Rolland

All Finding Aids

This collection consists of many, diverse documents, in both English and Japanese, about the USS Callaghan (DD-792) and other ships, newspaper articles, letters, recollections, and other personal items from Kaoru Hasegawa and Leo Jarboe, reunion and exchange program information, material about the second USS Callaghan (DDG-994), images, and veterans information.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website https://www.gettysburg.edu/special-collections/collections/.

Jackson Family Letters (Sc 2883), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2883. V-mails to Aph P. Jackson, Eminence, Kentucky from her sons, Eli O. Jackson and Laban P. Jackson, written during their military service in World War II. Laban comments on a new birth in the family, on news of German and Japanese atrocities, and on the domestic peace movement; Eli asks about their farm and requests some twists of chewing tobacco.

Harper Family Papers (Sc 1546), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1546. Wartime correspondence between Private Alfred Harper and his wife Elizabeth W. (Montgomery) Harper. Harper, from Columbia, Kentucky was serving as a machine gunner with the 26th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division when he was killed in Belgium 25 November 1944. Includes telegrams and letters to his wife related to his death.

Murphy, William Lansing, 1926-1986 (Sc 2881), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2881. Letter of William L. Murphy, written to his parents in Newport, Kentucky from Ascom City, Korea. Murphy, a U.S. Army sergeant, writes of his fellow servicemen, gifts he has sent, and a rumor of troops being sent home.

I Remember: Chicago Veterans Of War, Chris Green, Jim Fairhall

Big Shoulders Books

I Remember: Chicago Veterans of War weaves together the memories of fifty veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Throughout the book, each veteran speaks in a series of “I remember” statements labeled by a number, not a name. This anonymous structure foregrounds the similarities of all wars. The effect is of one veteran speaking of the shock and scale of every modern war. I Remember is available free in both digital and print format.

Hazel Guyol Collection On U.S. Reparations To Japanese Americans, Archivists

Guides and Finding Aids

Hazel Sample Guyol was a teacher and writer. She was born on February 10, 1910, in El Dorado, Arkansas, to Lavelle and Fannie Belle Murphy Sample. Guyol began her teaching career in 1927. She taught in Ohio, Tennessee, New Hampshire and Michigan. In 1931, she graduated from Ouachita Baptist College (now Ouachita Baptist University) in Clark County, Arkansas, and later pursued a master’s degree at Ohio State University. She was also a member of the South Arkansas Historical Society. After Guyol’s retirement in 1973, she moved to Clark County, Arkansas, and began writing articles for the New York Tribune, Arkansas …

Encounters With Eisenhower: Personal Reminiscences Collected To Mark The 125th Anniversary Of The Birth Of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Michael J. Birkner, Devin Mckinney

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

The general who orchestrated the greatest amphibian invasion in history, and led Allied forces in the great crusade to crush Adolf Hitler’s armies, subsequently became a popular two-term president of the United States. In the annals of American success stories, it’s hard to beat the life that Dwight D. Eisenhower made.

Yet this heroic figure was also a “natural man,” as one of the contributors to this volume of personal reminiscences suggests. Lady Dill was referring to Eisenhower’s humanity and lack of pretense. Unlike other leading figures of his day—including a certain five-star general who orchestrated the American island-hopping campaign …

A Telegram In 1945, Maureen E. Schlangen

Maureen E. Schlangen