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Full-Text Articles in History
No Tolerance For Cowards Or “Yankees:” The Letters Of Reuben Allen Pierson, A Confederate Officer, Erica L. Uszak
No Tolerance For Cowards Or “Yankees:” The Letters Of Reuben Allen Pierson, A Confederate Officer, Erica L. Uszak
Student Publications
Confederate officer Reuben Allen Pierson was a single well-to-do Louisiana slaveholder. He enlisted early in the Ninth Louisiana Infantry, insisting that he joined the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to defend his freedom, family, and new country. He turned his back on the United States, convinced that his Northern counterparts were subhuman and dishonorable. This paper argues that Reuben Allen Pierson remained steadfast in his convictions about Southern duty and honor, arguing in the Confederacy’s favor even in bleak times. The writer will examine why he clung desperately to the Confederacy and how he was influenced by ideas of honor, …
Be Good: Hatred And Hope In The Letters Of Gerald Koster, Steven M. Landry
Be Good: Hatred And Hope In The Letters Of Gerald Koster, Steven M. Landry
Student Publications
To tell an informative story about someone’s life is difficult at the best of times. Gerald “Gerry” Koster’s correspondence during his last year of service in the US Navy towards the end of the Pacific War can thus only paint an incomplete portrait of who he was and what exactly the war meant to him. Nevertheless, there are things that his letters can teach readers, not only about Koster’s role and daily activities in the military, but about his personal character and how that manifested in his interactions with the defeated Japanese and his family. And perhaps, through his personal …
The World War Ii Letters Of Richard Schade, Ashley N. Sonntag
The World War Ii Letters Of Richard Schade, Ashley N. Sonntag
Student Publications
Richard Schade was a newlywed when he was drafted into the United States Army on January 29, 1943, in Camden, New Jersey. While stationed in the United States during World War II, he wrote a series of letters to his new wife, Betty. Many of these letters were love letters discussing deep love as well as the active plan to start a family. Through the letters written over the course of months he records his daily duties, concerns, dreams, and various information about the conditions in the military. His letters developed into a valuable insight into the life of a …
All For Honor: Officer Responses To The Mcconaughy Letters, Olivia J. Ortman
All For Honor: Officer Responses To The Mcconaughy Letters, Olivia J. Ortman
The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History
In Special Collections here at Gettysburg College is a compilation of letters by Civil War officers responding to an invitation to attend the very first reunion of the Battle of Gettysburg. The reunion was initiated by David McConaughy–a lawyer in Adams County, PA who had organized a group of local men to fight for the Union during the war–and was meant to be a time for the officers who had fought here to come together and walk the battlefield. On this walk, they would point out the locations their troops had occupied during the fight so that McConaughy and his …
Marriage And Gender: A History Through Letters, Victoria Kern
Marriage And Gender: A History Through Letters, Victoria Kern
Senior Honors Projects
Research on the evolution of marriage can be found quite easily, but the opportunity to see into the lives of married couples from the past is rare. Through the analysis of letters between my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, I provide a glimpse of what being married has meant throughout the 20th Century for heterosexual couples. Societal ideas about what makes a marriage ideal have changed over time, but they have always been closely linked with gender expectations (Berk, 2013), so a feminist approach to the analysis of the evolution of marriage is used with my family’s letters as a …
Damron, Danny Lee (Sc 1133), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Damron, Danny Lee (Sc 1133), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1133. Letters and a postcard sent from Damron to Becky Spradlin of Nicholasville, Kentucky. Also included is a photo of Damron, a water bottle label with Arabic captions and a riyal bill from Saudi Arabia.
Wall Family Papers (Sc 1094), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Wall Family Papers (Sc 1094), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1094. Documents mainly of Wall family members of Cynthiana (Harrison County), Kentucky, and Dallas, Texas. The family correspondence includes three Civil War era letters. The financial receipts include one for the cost of an 1841 servant’s coffin.
World War Ii, 1939-1945 - Letters (Sc 2710), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
World War Ii, 1939-1945 - Letters (Sc 2710), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2710. Three letters written by “Tom” to his brother Summers, mother and “Mary,” from May-July 1942. He describes his work at an unnamed location constructing a galley, mess hall and housing, and the hauling of building materials up a hillside using a cable car system called a “kah-vall-ee.” Includes another soldier’s whimsical story about mishaps with the contraption, titled “Kah-vall-ee: The First in a Series of Battery ‘L’ Incidents.”
Civil War, 1861-1865 - Letters (Sc 956), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Civil War, 1861-1865 - Letters (Sc 956), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 956. Letters, 1861-1864 (3), written by three soldiers from Indiana. Two are stationed in Virginia and describe recent battles and camp life. The letter writer from 1864 speculates that the war is almost over and describes Raleigh, North Carolina, and military affairs there.
World War Ii, 1939-1945 - Letters (Sc 971), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
World War Ii, 1939-1945 - Letters (Sc 971), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 971. Photocopies of letters (2), written to Milwaukee, Wisconsin residents, chiefly concerning naval life in South America, 1944, and including comments about bombing devastation and V-E Day celebrations in Europe.
Smith, Cooper Ray, 1887-1951 (Sc 983), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Smith, Cooper Ray, 1887-1951 (Sc 983), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 983. Letter written from France by Cooper Ray Smith to his sister Mackie Bennett, Bowling Green, Kentucky, discussing his trip to France, the end of World War I, and inquiring about events in Bowling Green.
Civil War, 1861-1865 - Letters (Sc 364), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Civil War, 1861-1865 - Letters (Sc 364), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 364. Photocopies of Civil War letters (3), 1862, 1864, n.d. The letters were written from camps in Tennessee and Georgia by soldiers from Illinois. Includes letter relative to above letters, 1971.
Hadley, Howard "Buzz" - Letters To (Sc 2472), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Hadley, Howard "Buzz" - Letters To (Sc 2472), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2472. Letters to Howard "Buzz" Hadley, stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky, chiefly from his wife Alice (Everding) Hadley, Buffalo, New York. She comments on the weather and her job, sends him news of family and friends back home, and reveals her unexpected pregnancy.
Baird, Charles C., 1911-2006 (Sc 2463), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Baird, Charles C., 1911-2006 (Sc 2463), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2463. Phonograph record with recorded letter from Charles Baird to Tom Baird in care of Scott Tobacco Company, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Mailing envelope is postmarked San Francisco, California and labeled: "This is a recorded message from your Man in Service." Both phonograph and cover note: "Courtesy of Pepsi Cola" and contain the company logo.
World War Ii, 1939-1945 - Letters (Mss 330), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
World War Ii, 1939-1945 - Letters (Mss 330), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 330. Letters written to parents, friends, faculty and staff of Western Kentucky University by students during their service in Word War II. Includes some press releases, newspaper articles and photos. Also includes a history and travel log of the USS Stevens.
Smith Family Papers (Sc 2302), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Smith Family Papers (Sc 2302), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid for Manuscripts Small Collection 2302. Chiefly letters from Barnett Smith, Fort Sill, Oklahoma Territory and Camp Wheeler, Huntsville, Alabama to his mother in Hadley, Warren County, Kentucky, 1898. He describes his military training and ponders being shipped to Cuba. Also includes (Click on "Additional Files" below for scans) an 1865 letter from Union soldier James W. Howard of Butler County, Kentucky, Howard’s discharge certificate, an 1863 slavery bill of sale, and an 1873 receipt for a coffin.
Sprowl, Wilson (Sc 2308), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Sprowl, Wilson (Sc 2308), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2308. Brief World War I letters from Wilson Sprowl to family members in Monroe County, Kentucky while he was stationed at Camp Zachary Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky and Camp Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan. Also, a welcoming letter from King George V to American troops, and a billet for a bunk on the U.S.S. Florida that includes instructions for troop conduct.
Pearson, Murl Douglas, 1920-1970 (Sc 2285), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Pearson, Murl Douglas, 1920-1970 (Sc 2285), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2285. Letters sent from Murl D. Pearson to his parents, Dewey and Cora Pearson, Bowling Green, Kentucky, in which he relates information about his service in the U.S. Army in World War II. Pearson was working at a desk job in England during the course of these letters.
Sutton, Thomas W. (Sc 2319), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Sutton, Thomas W. (Sc 2319), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid, scan and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2319. "A Letter on a Record" from World War II in which Thomas W. Sutton, Camp Crowder, Missouri, records an oral letter on a phonograph record to Eva Mae Stone, Washington, D.C. The record has a U.S.O. logo and the paper enclosure has a military theme. A typescript of the letter is included.
Hatfield-Gaines Family, 1834-1981 (Mss 2275), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Hatfield-Gaines Family, 1834-1981 (Mss 2275), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2275. Chiefy receipts, deeds, wills, and other legal and financial documents of the Hatfield and Gaines families of Simpson County, Kentucky. Includes some Civil War-era correspondence of the Hatfield family.
Newman, Robert Mason, 1910-1988 & Frances Earlene (Holton) Newman, 1918-2012 (Sc 2278), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Newman, Robert Mason, 1910-1988 & Frances Earlene (Holton) Newman, 1918-2012 (Sc 2278), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2278. Miscellaneous papers, chiefly items related to Robert Mason Newman's retirement from the U.S. Naval Reserves and pre-marriage letters written to Frances Earlene Holton from her friends.
Walters, Jacob "Jack" Bradford, 1891-1924 (Sc 2268), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Walters, Jacob "Jack" Bradford, 1891-1924 (Sc 2268), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2268. Letter, 1 May 1918, from Jacob "Jack" Walters to Grace Tichenor in Frankfort, Kentucky. On his way to military training in South Carolina, Walters consoles her on their separation and expresses support for the war.
Cisney, Barbara (Sc 2252), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Cisney, Barbara (Sc 2252), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2252. "Bevie W. Cain," and "Civil War Letters of Bevie Cain," two papers written by Barbara Cisney for Western Kentucky University history classes and based primarily on a collection of Cain's letters held in WKU's Special Collections Library (SC 2251).
Painter, Jeromy Lee, B. 1976 (Sc 1998), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Painter, Jeromy Lee, B. 1976 (Sc 1998), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1997. Two letters, 23 and 26 July 2003, from Jeromy Lee Painter, serving in Iraq with Operation Iraqi Freedom, to Jerry and Annetta Proctor, Bowling Green. He inquires about family and friends and relates some of his experiences as well as his belief in the necessity of America's intervention in Iraq.
Ritter, Adam (Sc 1999), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Ritter, Adam (Sc 1999), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1999. Chiefly e-mail messages from Warren County native Adam Ritter to his parents while stationed in Iraq with an infantry brigade. He describes numerous military actions in which he participated, his impressions of the Iraqi people, and the devastation caused on his base by a suicide bomber.
Tate, William "Buster" (Sc 2000), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Tate, William "Buster" (Sc 2000), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2000. E-mail correspondence of Tate while serving with the Coalition Provisional Authority during the Iraq War. Tate emphasizes military life, particularly recreational activities, his interaction with Iraqis, his work with creating economic opportunities for Iraqis after the war, and Iraqi culture and conditions during the war.
Iraq War, 2003 (Sc 2185), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Iraq War, 2003 (Sc 2185), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Materials relating to an effort by the Kentucky Library & Museum to collect letters and e-mails of soldiers serving in the Iraq War. Includes press releases, e-mails, notes, and newspaper articles.
Boyd, Randy, B. 1977 (Sc 2002), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Boyd, Randy, B. 1977 (Sc 2002), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
E-mail letter sent to a school from Randy Boyd, written while serving with the Army National Guard during the Iraq War. he describes his duties, the danger posed by the enemy, and his favorable impression of Iraqi civilians.
Kristen, Kevin (Sc 1994), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Kristen, Kevin (Sc 1994), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1994. E-mails from Kevin Kristen, a U.S. Army soldier serving in Iraq and Kuwait during the Iraq War, to Tim Asher of Elizabethtown, Kentucky. He discusses flying missions to protect convoys, Kentuckians in the war, press coverage of the war, and military life.
Iraq War, 2003 (Sc 2003), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
Iraq War, 2003 (Sc 2003), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
MSS Finding Aids
Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2003. A collection of items, chiefly e-mails and letters, sent from participants in the Iraq War to family and friends in the United States. The items are arranged alphabetically by the sender.