Collections

Start Over Date range 1919 Places France Level Collection

Barger Brothers, Soldiers, World War I Letters 0.25 Linear Feet Summary: 2 1/2 in. (1 document case)

Barger, Joe and Pat Barger

World War I letters authored by brothers Joe Douglas Barger (26 items) and Pat Burnley S. Barger (37 items) to their sisters Lula and Juanita Barger of Princeton, Mercer County, West Virginia, their home town. Joe served on the front lines in France with Battery A, 315th Field Artillery, American Expeditionary Force (AEF), while his brother worked in a railway shop for Company B, 49th Engineers, AEF. Topics of letters include descriptions of everyday life in camp, entertainment, health, sending and receiving letters from home, and family life.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Carl Robinson, Soldier, Photographs from Post-World War I AEF Military Tour in France and Other Material 0.25 Linear Feet Summary: 2 1/2 in. (1 document case)

Robinson, Carl

Records of Carl Robinson, a West Virginian who, as a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, toured France as a member of an American Expeditionary Force (AEF) military observation tour from 10 July to 26 September, 1919. The collection contains an archive of photographs taken of the tour, apparently by Carl Robinson. There are also service records for Robinson dating from 1919 to 1941. Subjects of photographs include battlefields, grave markers and cemeteries, damaged villages and towns, railroad transportation, Reims Cathedral, weapons, and ship transport (on the vessel "Leviathan").

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Chester Merriman, Soldier, World War I Letters 0.01 Linear Feet Summary: 1/4 in. (1 folder)

Merriman, Chester
Ten letters from Pvt. Chester Merriman, serving in the A.E.F. (American Expeditionary Force) during World War I, to his mother in Romney. He describes army camp life and his travels in Italy, England, and France, where he mentions serving on the Western Front.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Dale L. Walker Research Collection 4 Linear Feet

Walker, Dale L.

The series contains primary and secondary resources on the Rockwell brothers, Paul Ayres and Kiffin Yates, and World War I aviation history utilized by author and historian Dale L. Walker in his research. Walker has written, among others, Only the Clouds Remain: Ted Parsons of the Lafayette Escadrille, Amsterdam, NY: Alandale Press, 1980.

  1. Washington and Lee University, Leyburn Library

Davis Family Diaries 1 Linear Feet

Davis, William Couch

This a a collection of diaries of William Couch Davis, Jr., and his wife, Mary Anderson Davis, including accounts of William's jobs in France (1917-19), Cuba, Savannah, and Norfolk. They include many details about the Davis family of West Point, Virginia. One of Mary's diaries covers their first married year (1924-25) in Cuba and others cover their trips (1935-1959) out west in Canada and to Central America and Europe.

  1. Washington and Lee University, Leyburn Library

Elmer W. Prince, Papers of a Morgantown Resident and City Official 0.8 Linear Feet 10 in. (1 document case, 5 in.); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.); (1 flat storage box, 2 1/2 in.)

Prince, Elmer W.
Items that belonged to Elmer W. Prince, Morgantown City Manager from 1933 to 1942 and from 1946 to 1966. The collection includes Prince's 1905-07 post card collection, a 1921 West Virginia University Bachelor of Science Degree in civil engineering, and two Morgantown budget statements, 1935 and 1937. There are also photographs, including images of Morgantown (1941) and several taken by Prince of post World War II France and Germany (1945-1946). Prince served as an army major during and after the war, for which his unit received a letter of recognition from President Harry Truman. Other materials include a journal kept by Elmer Prince in 1967 while on assignment for the federal government in Iran; two religious publications; several newspapers and clippings; and artifacts such as World War II goggles, a ca. 1941 handkerchief from England with a printed war rally slogan, West Virginia University memorabilia, and four recognition plaques for community service. There is also a 1951 certificate from Capital Airlines in honor of Prince's efforts to bring airline service to Morgantown.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

George Seldon Wallace (1871-1963) Papers 9.54 Linear Feet Summary: 9 ft. 6 1/2 in. (22 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 photograph album, 2 in.); (1 cased photograph in composite box, 3/4 in.); (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

Wallace, George Selden, 1871-1963
Papers of a Huntington attorney, member of the West Virginia National Guard, 1909-1916, employee of the C&O Railway Company, president of the Union Bank and Trust Company of Huntington, president of the Ben Lomond Company, president of the Blackberry, Kentucky and West Virginia Coal and Coke Company, attorney for Central City, prosecuting attorney of Cabell County, 1905-1908, chairman of a county Democratic committee, and delegate to the Democratic National Convention, 1912. Wallace served in the Spanish-American War and as judge advocate general in West Virginia during the coal strike in 1912-1913. During World War I he was a state draft executive, a major in the judge advocate general corps in Washington, and a lieutenant colonel in France. Subjects include the influenza epidemic of 1918, the depression of 1929-1932, state and national politics, and genealogy of the Wallace and allied families. The collection also includes three typescripts, "Runnymede Receipts,"Train Running for the Confederacy," and "Norborne Parish and St. George's Chapel," by Philip P. Gibson; Civil War data; an account of the taking of San Juan Hill in 1898; a military diary; a scrapbook of Cabell County court records; a speech against the League of Nations; and notes on a trip to Nice, circa 1919.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Louis Reed and Mildred Johnston Papers 0.35 Linear Feet Summary: 4 1/4 in. (2 folders, 2 1/2 in.); (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

Reed, Louis. Johnston, Mildred.
Louis Reed (1899-ca. 1985) served in France and Germany during World War I. Collection contains letters he wrote to his future wife, Mildred Johnston. Reed and Johnston married many years later, after the death of Reed's first wife. Reed's letters, written between 1918 and 1920, discuss army life, the front in France, and the occupation of Germany. Collection also contains a 235-page photocopied typescript that Reed wrote about the history of Burning Springs, Wirt County, and its role in the Civil War as a productive oil field. The typescript is also available on microfilm.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Okey P. Keadle, Soldier, World War I Correspondence 0.15 Linear Feet Summary: 1 3/4 in. (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

Keadle, Okey P. (1894-1958)
Letters from Okey P. Keadle (1894-1958) to his family in Williamson, West Virginia, written while he served with the first American army regiment on active duty in France during World War I. Keadle was stationed in Paris and Tours, serving as a clerk. Subjects include his reaction to French customs, wartime civilian life in Paris, celebrations held by the American troops, and fashions and popular entertainers of the day.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

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