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[identification of item], [box #, folder #], C. S. Buchanan Augusta Military Academy scrapbook, 1918-1944, SC 0405, James Madison University Special Collections, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Purchased from David A. Hamilton Americana Books, April 2025.
According to the name plate, the scrapbook was compiled by C. S. Buchanan of Norfolk, Virginia. C. S. Buchanan is presumed to be Casper Shelton Buchanan (1900-1960) who was born in Staunton, Virginia but at some point took up residence in Norfolk. He married a woman named Georgia Long who is likely the same woman with that name who is pictured in the scrapbook. Buchanan attended Augusta Military Academy for at least the 1918-1919 academic term and, according to his marriage announcement, may have also attended Staunton Military Academy.
The scrapbook documents C. S. Buchanan's time as a student at the Augusta Military Academy (AMA) in Fort Defiance, Virginia. It comprises photographs, printed ephemera, and handwritten annotations.
Contents include autographs and messages written by classmates, sports team rosters and scores, daily entries of "Things Worth-While Noting", images likely taken from AMA publications, photographs of campus and fellow cadets in training exercises, printed ephemera, color cut-outs and emblems, postcards, newspaper clippings, an AMA Regulations manual, and class assignments.
Additional photographs include women friends, various Staunton locations (the mess hall at Staunton Military Academy, Woodrow Wilson's birthplace, a grammar school, Middle River Dam), and an unidentified beach.
Two loose documents made out to C. S. Buchanan include a Certificate of Distinction for the 1918-1919 session at Augusta Military Academy and a War Service Award, dated 1944 May 30.