History Commons^™

Elrod, Cecil Murray, 1923-2002 (Mss 352), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscript Collection 352. Material related to Cecil Murray Elrod, chiefly about his service in the U.S. Navy during World War II in the Patrol Bombing Squadron VPB-21. Includes notes on planes and guns discussed during training, aviators flight log books, and other military papers. Also includes information about reunions of the Valley High School (Jefferson County, Kentucky) Class of 1943.

Rich, Louis Arnold, 1921-1944 (Sc 2402), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2402. Letters of Louis Arnold Rich, a U. S. Army private from Tompkinsville, Kentucky, written to his wife and in-laws during his military training and while hospitalized for a long illness that resulted in his death on 3 August 1944. He writes of his medical condition and mentions other soldiers from home. Includes letters from his wife, Martha, to her parents and grandmother discussing his medical treatment. Also includes an unidentified soldier’s letter and a child’s letter to her father.

Robertson, J. Lee, B. 1922 (Fa 535), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 535. Interview with J. Lee Robertson conducted by Kenneth Hines and Gil Calhoun in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Robertson reminisces about the U.S. Army during World war II and his long association with Western Kentucky University.

Isolationism, Internationalism And The “Other:” The Yellow Peril, Mad Brute And Red Menace In Early To Mid Twentieth Century Pulp Magazines And Comic Books, Nathan Vernon Madison

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis’ purpose is to demonstrate, via the examination of popular youth literature (primarily pulp magazines and comic books) from the 1920s through to the 1950s, that the stories found therein drew their definitions of heroism and villainy from an overarching, nativist fear of outsiders that had existed before the Great War, but intensified afterwards. These depictions were transferred to America’s “new” enemies following both the United States’ entry into the Second World War, as well as the early stages of the Cold War. This transference of nativist imagery left behind the ethnically-based origins of such depictions, showing that racism …

Green Collection (Mss 49), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 49. Correspondence of the Green family, Falls of Rough, Grayson County, Kentucky, including business papers and account books, and correspondence for several generations of the Robert Wilmot Scott family, originally of Frankfort, Kentucky.

Meador, Richards, Johnson Family Papers (Mss 345), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescripts (click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Collection 345. Correspondence, legal documents, and sundry material related to the Meador, Richards, and Johnson families chiefly of Simpson County and Logan County, Kentucky. Also includes documents and correspondence from the King and Garrett families of Robertson and Sumner County, Tennessee. The attached 1842 letters are from R. M. Latimer to Caroline Garrett reporting the death and burial of her brother, George King, in Cuba; and to Caroline Garrett from another brother, John, discussing tensions with Mexico.

Travelstead, Chester Coleman, 1911-2006 (Mss 281), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 281. Chiefly personal and professional correspondence, speeches, journal articles, reminiscences, and news clippings of noted educator Chester Coleman Travelstead. Of particular interest are the materials related to his 1955 dismissal from the University of South Carolina owing to his support of racial integration. Also includes correspondence and diaries of his mother Nelle (Gooch) Travelstead, long-time Western Kentucky University faculty member.

Pace, Stanley Carter, B. 1921 (Fa 532), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 532. Presentation made by Stanley Carter Pace, a Kentucky native, to an unidentified group at the Eldorado Country Club, Indian Wells, California, on 25 March 1998 about his experiences in World War II. Pace served in the U.S. Army Air Corps. In August 1944 he was shot down in Austria and placed in a hospital and then transferred to a German prisoner of war camp. He was liberated in April 1945. Videotaped by Dreamweaver Video of Palm Desert, California, 1998.

Ms-117: Papers Of George H. Sweet Jr. ’42, Elizabeth M. Ungemach

All Finding Aids

This collection gives insight into the pre- and inter-wartime life of George H. Sweet Jr. ’42 as a member and captain of L.S.T. 358 in the Mediterranean. It also provides general information about World War II in the Mediterranean and L.S.T.s. It further gives a glimpse of the experiences of Donald Sweet ’49 as an aircrewman in the Pacific theater, specifically about life and important happenings during the invasion of Okinawa in 1945.

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 …

Tolle, Donald James, 1918-1993 (Sc 2344), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Typescripted World War II diary of Donald James Tolle, kept 1942-1945 while serving in England, Italy and North Africa with the Army Air Corps, 47th Bombardment Group (Light). Includes diary annotations made in 1988, materials from a 1979 reunion of the Bombardment Group, biographical data on Tolle, his obituary, and a colleague's remarks at his memorial service.

Glenna Snow's Cook Book: Home Tested Recipes By Beacon Journal Readers, Glenna Snow, Kevin F. Kern

University of Akron Press Publications

Glenna Snow was the home economics editor for the Akron Beacon Journal in the 1930s and 1940s. Snow and the newspaper produced a book of readers' recipes in 1938. Six years later, adding more recipes and a substitution section due to government rationing during WWII, the 1944 edition was published. Introduced by historian, Kevin Kern, this reprint edition contains1385 "recipes in a readable form so that each ingredient, with its amount falls into the proper place at the proper time, to give the best results." The recipes are diverse and unique including instructions for "War Cake" and "Martha Washington Omelet." …

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.

Warren County, Kentucky - World War Ii Servicemen (Mss 326), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 326. Data and newspaper clippings on U.S. military personnel from Warren County, collected during their service in World War II. The seventy pages of names includes women and African Americans.

Swann Family - Ration Books, 1943 (Sc 2320), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2230. World War II ration books (4; covers only) belonging to various members of the Swann family of Niagara Falls, Niagara County, New York. Also includes some brief biographical notes about the family.

Robertson, Gabrielle, 1889-1970 (Mss 323), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 323. Chiefly letters to Gabrielle Robertson, History Department faculty member, Western Kentucky University, 1916 to 1960. Of particular interest are those letters from former students serving in the military during World War II. Also includes genealogical materials and family photographs.

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

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.

Through The Eyes Of A Child: The Archaeology Of Wwii Japanese American Internment At Amache, April Kamp-Whittaker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children’s lives in the World War II Japanese American Internment Camp, Amache are investigated using a combination of archaeology, oral history, and archival research. As part of internees’ efforts to create a more hospitable environment both children and adults extensively modified the physical landscape. The importance of landscape and place in Japanese culture and for the internee community is examined using the development of gardens around the elementary school as a case study. Internees also developed a rich social landscape that allowed for the socialization of children within Amache. The socialization of children at Amache was being influenced by the …

Newman, Robert Mason, 1910-1988 & Frances Earlene (Holton) Newman, B. 1918 (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.

The River And The Factory: Momentum And Shifting Dynamics Between The Shenandoah River And Avtex Fibers, 1939-1989, Christina Wulf

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

From 1940-1989, a huge rayon factory—at one time the largest in the world—operated on the banks of the South Fork of the Shenandoah River in the Town of Front Royal, Virginia. Three different companies owned the facility: American Viscose Corporation (AVC) built it in 1939 and ran it until 1963 when the Food Machinery Corporation (FMC Corp.) conglomerate purchased AVC. In 1976, an FMC executive bought the rayon plant in Front Royal in a leveraged buyout, renaming the facility Avtex Fibers, Inc. From early on, the plant had serious problems with waste materials—including many toxic substances—produced when manufacturing rayon. During …

Brashear, Kathleen, 1895-1986 (Sc 2260), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2260. Card, with picture of his home, sent by T.C. Cherry to teacher Kathleen Brashear, prior to the outbreak of World War II. Also, related correspondence and biographical material about Brashear.

Fighting For The Nation: Military Service, Popular Political Mobilization And The Creation Of Modern Puerto Rican National Identities: 1868-1952, Harry Franqui

Open Access Dissertations

This project explores the military and political mobilization of rural and urban working sectors of Puerto Rican society as the Island transitioned from Spanish to U.S. imperial rule. In particular, my research is interested in examining how this shift occurs via patterns of inclusion-exclusion within the military and the various forms of citizenship that are subsequently transformed into socio-economic and political enfranchisement. Analyzing the armed forces as a culture-homogenizing agent helps to explain the formation and evolution of Puerto Rican national identities from 1868 to 1952, and how these evolving identities affected the political choices of the Island. This phenomenon, …

The Consanguinity Of Ideas: Race And Anti-Communism In The U.S. - Australian Relationship, 1933 - 1953, Travis J. Hardy

Doctoral Dissertations

American diplomatic historian’s consideration of the role of ideology in the formation of American foreign policy has only recently begun to receive more attention. Traditional focuses on economics and relations among great nation-states have predominated the historical literature. This work examines the powerful effect that ideology, particularly race and anti-communism, played in developing the U.S.’s relationship with a small power nation-state, Australia, between 1933 and 1953. This work is comparative in nature, relying on archival research in both American and Australian archives and examines the attitudes of both elite policymakers as well as common individuals in shaping the alliance between …

For God And Country: Baptist General Conference Attitudes Toward World War Ii, Taylor Ferda

History Student Works

On the afternoon of February 23, 1943, amidst the gathering of professors, pastors, and students, the inauguration ceremony of Professor Henry Conrad Wingblade as the second president of Bethel Institute was held at the school's chapel. In his acceptance address entitled, "Bethel and the World of Tomorrow," Wingblade reflected on the Institute's role in a global war that seemed to be spiraling out of control: "Nor should we forget just now that Bethel men and women are sharing in the crucial tasks and burdens which face our country and the world today-increasingly in the places of spiritual power as chaplains, …

Interview No. 1640, Thomas Edward Dent, Mary Helen Dent Trammell

Combined Interviews

He describes the schools growing up, and how they were all named after famous Texans, such as Davey Crocket and James Bowie. Mrs. Trammell describes how her mother was forced to work because of her father’s age and failing health. Her father had asthma and eventually suffered a stroke. The family lived in a rural area, where they kept chickens, cows, and other animals. Mr. Dent describes the fear that existed when WWII broke out, as he was still in elementary school. Both siblings describe the process of making phone calls at this time, and dealing with operators. There were …

Jud Ms 02 Portland Jewish Community Center Uso Guest Book Finding Aid, Karin A. France

Search the Manuscript Collection (Finding Aids)

Description:

The Jewish Community Center on Cumberland Avenue in Portland, Maine was the site of United Service Organization (USO) social events, held regularly from at least October 1943 to September 1946. Most of the servicemen (and some women who were nurses) who attended events at the Community Center were in the Navy, stationed on shops docked or anchored in Casco Bay. These social events were sometimes held out on the islands. Although hosted by the Jewish Community Center, anyone was welcome, regardless of religion. Eleanor Edison Taft saved this ledger listing the names of attendees at the USO events when …

Collateral Damage: Veterans And Domestic Violence In Mari Sandoz's The Tom-Walker, Kathy Bahr

Great Plains Quarterly

The Tom-Walker (1947) associates domestic violence on a national scale with the domestic violence of veterans returning home after the Civil War and two world wars. This novel anticipates both the rise of McCarthyism and the long shadow cast by the atom bomb over the years constituting the Cold War. ... The Tom-Walker is remarkable in its depiction of the ugly, almost unmentionable effects of war on the domestic lives of individual veterans. Sandoz, like a number of her contemporaries, was particularly concerned about the horrors of war, but unlike many writers, she focuses on the home front and on …

Toomey, Lawrence Otto, 1903-1992 (Sc 2212), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2212. Lawrence Otto Toomey's memoir titled "Duty in the Medical Corps Reserves, May 11, 1942-January 30, 1966," dealing chiefly with his service in the Pacific during World War II. Also includes a copy of his obituary.

Interview No. 1630, James L. Hayden

Combined Interviews

As a career soldier, Hayden spent the better part of his life in the Army; in this interview he recalls his experiences as a fourth-generation West Point graduate, his service both in the Army Constabulary in immediate post-World War II Germany and in Korea during the Korean War, his responsibilities at White Sands Missile Range under Wernher von Braun, and his recent volunteer work as a West Point admissions advisor. Born in 1923 in New York, Hayden was expected from birth to attend West Point; indeed, his father was an instructor there at the time. Although he applied in 1940, …

Interview No. 1622, Michael Fushille M.D.

Combined Interviews

He describes the process of getting into medical school, and trying to keep his G.I. benefits. Dr. Fushille enlisted in the Navy before the war and was accepted, but was told to remain in school because they had no place for him. He eventually served on an aircraft carrier during WWII, where he faced hurricanes, fires, and kamikaze attacks by the Japanese. Dr. Fushille served in the combat information center on the carrier as a radar technician. He finished his medical exams in 1957, before returning to New Jersey to complete his internship; by this time he and his wife …