History Commons^™

Bryant, David Lee, 1923-2000 (Sc 2799), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan for Manuscripts Small Collection 2799. Typescripted personal history of David Lee Bryant (1923-2000) describing his upbringing in Todd County, Kentucky, his World War II military service, his capture by the Germans and liberation by the Russian Army, his subsequent work for a wholesale grocery firm, and his wife and three sons. Includes article about Bryant published 5 February 1986 in the (Greenville, Kentucky) Leader-News, and explanatory letter of his son Gary L. Bryant, 21 November 2013.

Johnston, Ira J. (Sc 2792), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2792. “Memories of a WWII Veteran,” by Ira J. Johnston. Johnston recalls the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, entering the U.S. Army, basic training, his service in France and Belgium, combat on the advance through Germany, the food he ate, interacting with German civilians, a surprise meeting with his brother-in-law, his return home, the Japanese surrender, and his discharge.

The Journey For Justice Of The Japanese Americans, Richard Burke

History Class Publications

The Japanese American citizens were dehumanized by the actions of the United States government during World War II; they were forced into internment camps strictly because they were of Japanese descent. Through the accounts of the men, women, and children who experienced the internment camps and lived on to tell about them, they were treated less than human. They were definitely not protected by the laws of the United States of America. There are many different elements that appear to have created the opportunities for certain men to imprison citizens of the United States without a trial or jury. Through …

Spicker, Maxwell Pryse, Jr., 1920-1985 (Sc 2794), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2794. Letters of Maxwell P. Spicker, Jr., to his parents in Louisville, Kentucky, written during his U.S. Army service in World War II. He writes of his training and leisure activities at Fort Riley, Kansas, Seattle, Washington and Gainesville, Texas, and confidentially to his father of his request for an overseas assignment. Includes photographs of Spicker and fellow soldiers.

Brooks, Danny Ray (Sc 1260), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1260. Paper, “Life During the ‘30’s and ‘40’s,” written by Danny Ray Brooks for a WKU history class. He relates the experiences of O.G. and Evelyn Simmons, of Bowling Green, Kentucky during the 1930s and 1940s.

Wooton, Thomas Pryor (Sc 1261), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1261. Paper, “Iceland in World War II as Experienced by Jim Wooton,” written by Thomas Wooton for a WKU history class early in the 1990s. He relates Hopkins Countian Jim Wooton’s experiences during the Depression and World War II.

Roberts, Edwin T., 1920-1998 (Sc 1230), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1230. Letters, removed from genealogy notebooks prepared by Edwin T. Roberts, written by Thomas W. Jenkins of Bowling Green, Kentucky to his daughter, Ethel Mae Roberts, discussing his family and life in a Bowling Green boarding house.

Chyle, Walter, Jr., B. 1918 (Sc 1210), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1210. World War II prisoner of war letter, 1943, from Walter Chyle, Jr. in Germany, to parents in Auburn, Kentucky, stating that he is fine; and newspaper article, 1984, about Chyle’s World War II experience and his many contributions to Butler County, Kentucky society.

Dallas, William Robert, Sr., 1910-1997 (Mss 472), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 472. Correspondence, almost exclusively between William Robert Dallas, Sr., and his girlfriend, fiancé, and later wife Virginia “Ginny” Eileen Lindsay. Dallas was in the Army Air Corps and stationed in Louisville, Kentucky, while Ginny was living in her hometown of Ventnor, New Jersey, right outside Atlantic City. The letters are courtship related and are filled with plans for their wedding on 15 September 1945.

Harris, Christine Louise, 1914-2011 (Sc 1200), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1200. World War II letters (5) written to Christine Louise Harris, Bowling Green, Kentucky, and to the Fifth Street Baptist Church, Bowling Green, where Harris was secretary.

Ms-142: World War Ii Correspondence Of Clarence And Helen Haldeman, Devin Mckinney

All Finding Aids

The bulk of the letters in the collection were written by Clarence and Helen Haldeman between 1943 and 1946, while Clarence was being trained at various bases by the Army Air Corps, and later serving in a bomber squadron in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.

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 http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.

“Everything May Yet Turn Out All Right”: An Architect’S Adventures In 1939-40 Europe, Miranda Rectenwald

The Confluence (2009-2020)

When Washington University sent young architect Victor Gilbertson to Europe to study church architecture in 1939, officials knew a war was brewing. What they didn’t realize was that Gilbertson would end up in the middle of the start of a global conflict. His correspondence to and from St. Louis suggests the perils of a young architect.

Hume, Glee, 1902-1998 (Mss 470), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 470. Letters written 1940-1946 to Glee Hume, a teacher at Burkesville High School, Cumberland County, Kentucky, by former students and relatives serving in various military service units around the world.

Stamps, William Perry, Jr., 1914-2006 (Sc 1123), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1123. Postcard about a Bowling Green High School 1934 class meeting, 1937; newsletters (3), from the 87th Depot Repair Squadron, 1945; army ration card, 1945; miscellaneous papers related to Stamps’ release from the army, 1945; and a letter from a Moroccan friend, 1948.

Headrick, Victor Delano, 1921-2010 (Sc 1122), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1122. Letter, 26 May 1945, from Headrick, a Monroe County, Kentucky native, to his sister Eva Ream, relating his World War II experiences as a transportation specialist in Europe. Includes genealogical data sheet.

Keirns, Harry Austin, 1917-2000 - Collector (Sc 1199), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1199. Stories collected by Harry A. Keirns from American prisoners of war in Germany, describing the downing of their planes in German occupied areas during World War II.

Moore, Carlos Wright, 1884-1951 (Mss 156), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 156. Family and business papers of Warren County, Kentucky farmer Carlos W. Moore and school teacher Mae White, who became his wife. Topics include courtship, farming and school teaching.

Overcoming Barriers: Black Women At Boeing, Cheryl M. Coney

MAIS Projects and Theses

This research looks at the lives of Black Women in the Pacific Northwest working at Boeing during World War II. Using historical research, archived records and oral history the experiences of Black Women Rosies are documented. Oral histories from Katie Burks and Ruth Render two of the first Black Women employed at Boeing during World War II offer personal insights into barriers Black Women faced and how they overcame these obstacles with activism to build strong communities and a better workplace.

Lawrence, Ruth, 1892-1969 (Mss 476), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 476. Letters, written mostly to Ruth Lawrence in North Carolina and Louisville, Kentucky, genealogical notes, and Ruth’s domestic science notebook. Many of the letters are from or concern her relatives in the Goodnight, Moulder and Lawrence families of Kentucky, Texas and Tennessee.

Carmichael Family Papers (Mss 467), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 467. Correspondence, legal papers, and miscellaneous material from several related families: Standrod, Campbell, and Carmichael. Includes a claim made after the Civil War for compensation for an enslaved man who joined the Union Army (Click on "Additional Files" below).

Adams, Lura Alice (Hopper), 1903-1996 (Mss 454), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 454. Letters to Lura Alice (Hopper) Adams, Franklin and Bowling Green, Kentucky, written by her parents, David Carson Hopper and Victoria Frances (Wade) Hopper from Russell Springs, Kentucky. Includes a typescripted compilation and background information from Lura’s daughter, Marion Lee Adams.

Doughty, Kyllie (Sc 1103), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1103. Paper: "Remembrances of Summer 1944,” written by Doughty for a Western Kentucky University class. She based her paper on her interview with her Louisville, Kentucky, grandmother, concerning life after her husband enlisted in the U.S. Navy, during World War II, and before he was sent overseas.

Diamond, George Oliver, 1925-1998 (Sc 1097), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1097. George Oliver Diamond writes a brief autobiography for his children and grandchildren, focusing on his experiences as a member of the 559th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion in Europe during World War II. He received a portion of his military training in Bowling Green, Kentucky, returning to the city after the war to work and raise his family. He saw combat duty during the final months of the war.

Coombs Family Collection (Mss 349), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 349. Correspondence, photographs, business records and miscellaneous papers of the Coombs, Robertson and related families of Warren and Simpson counties in Kentucky and of Alabama, Texas and Tennessee. Includes correspondence, personal papers and research of Elizabeth Robertson Coombs, librarian at the Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University. Several documents from this collection have been scanned are available for viewing by clicking on the "Additional Files" below.

La Grande Misère / Great Misery, Maisie Renault, Jeanne Armstrong , Translator

Zea E-Books Collection

In June 1942 Maisie Renault and her sister Isabelle were arrested in Paris by the Gestapo for their activities in support of the French Résistance cell directed by their brother Gilbert Renault, known by the code-name “Colonel Rémy.” Over the next two years they were held at La Santé prison in Paris, at Fresnes Prison, south of the city, at Fort de Romainville on the outskirts, and at the Royallieu-Compiègne internment camp in northeast France.

In August 1944 they were deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp in northern Germany, opened in 1939 and housing mainly women and children. By 1944 …

Flood, Edwin Warren, 1921-1944 (Sc 1081), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1081. Six World War II V-Mail letters from Edwin Warren Flood, serving aboard the U.S.S. St. Louis in the Pacific area, to his parents and sister in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Also, three letters from his parents and sister, written before Flood’s death on 14 February 1944. Collection includes materials related to his posthumous awards, a photo of Flood in his U.S. Navy uniform, and negatives.

Cain, Frank Davis, Sr., 1890-1953 (Mss 127), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 127. Correspondence, reports and certificates of Madisonville engineer Cain. Includes information about Madisonville's Selective Service Board in World War II, the National Bituminous Coal Commission, and the 1940 Census.

Neue Jugend - Einleitung, Henning Wrage

German Studies Faculty Publications

Book Summary: This book discusses research on the culture of postwar Germany (1945–1962), a topic that has become increasingly complex in recent years. Virulent topics such as war, destruction, homecoming, flight, expulsion, guilt, daily life, religion, etc., are explored systematically, using examples and by focusing on fiction, nonfiction, and film in the two German states. Historians and scholars in the field of literature and film have contributed to this compendium. They address various core questions concerning aesthetic representation and the formation of contemporary history.

Hodges, Ida Leighton, 1885-1949 (Sc 1025), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1028. Letters commending Hodges for a variety of civic activities, including her work as coordinator of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and Civil Works Administration in Bowling Green, Kentucky during the 1930s.

Melton Family Papers (Mss 123), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 123. Letters, receipts, legal and financial papers of the Melton family of Henderson County, Kentucky. Also includes data about the Lively, Poole, and Strum families of Henderson County.