World War I Collection

Collection

Identifier: World War I Collection

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Collection divided into five parts: I) Correspondence between Lieut. J.N. McClure and Ruth Agnes Kerr, 4 letters, 1918-1919, written when McClure was serving overseas (arranged); 2) Letters written (in French) in 1915 by Belgian children thanking the American people for gifts of food (not processed); 3) ca. 50 letters (1917-19) written by Charles Beckwith to his sisters when Beckwith served as a corporal in the U.S. Army, stationed first at Fort Monroe, Virginia and later sent to France with the American Expeditionary Force (arranged). Box 4 contains 43 letters from John Burkin (of Ohio) to his wife Evelyn from August to December 1918, from Camp McClellan in Anniston, Alabama--mostly regarding camp life and the anxiety of going overseas. Box 5 contains 37 letters between Sergeant Kenneth C. Sharpe and his parents, mostly his mother. The letters are dated from 1917 to 1922 and vary in content from aspects of home life during World War I in America and the military life of Sharpe while overseas and in the U.S.

Dates

Creation: 1916 - 1929

Creator

Beckwith, Charles (Person)
Burkin, John F. (Person)

Language of Materials

Collection is in English and Belgian French.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to the public and must be used in the John M.K. Davis Reading Room of the Watkinson Library, Trinity College Library, Hartford, Connecticut. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws when using this collection.

Conditions Governing Use

Digital surrogates may be provided in accordance with the duplication policy of the Watkinson Library.

Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs unless otherwise specified. It is the researcher's responsibility to secure permission to publish materials from the appropriate copyright holder.

Archival materials may contain sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal and/or state right to privacy laws or other regulations. While we make a good faith effort to identify and remove such materials, some may be missed during our processing. If a researcher finds sensitive personal information (e.g. social security numbers) in a collection, please bring it to the attention of the reading room staff.

Biographical / Historical

This composite collection contains the correspondence of Charles Beckwith; a corporal in the U.S. Army, who was stationed at Fort Monroe, Virginia, from March 1917 to April 1918. Shortly thereafter, Beckwith was sent to France with the American Expeditionary Force where he served until the end of the war. J. N. McClure; a lieutenant overseas also contributed correspondence to the collection with several letters to Ruth Agnes Kerr.

Extent

1.66 Cubic Feet (7 flat manuscript boxes: two oversize, two 8 x 10, and two standard size. )

Additional Description

Arrangement

Collection is arranged into four series: Series I: Belgian Children's Correspondence, Series II: Charles Beckwith Papers, Series III: Burkin Papers, and Series IV: Sharpe Papers. The correspondence between J. N. McClure and Ruth Agnes Kerr, as well as miscellaneous ephemera and manuscripts have been placed in a fifth series titled Miscellaneous Manuscripts and Ephemera.