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Charlotte D. Mansfield collection, 1915-2017, Date acquired: 09/10/2008, Date accessioned: 2020-06-07, bulk 1942-1957

 

Summary

Creator:
Mansfield, Charlotte D.
Abstract:
Charlotte Mansfield enlisted in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (W.A.A.C.) in 1942 to pursue work in photograph processing for the military. She was part of the first all-women graduating class from Lowry Field Photo School in Colorado, where she was trained to be a photo technician that developed primarily aerial shots in photography labs. Mansfield was stationed at various locations throughout the United States before being transferred to lab work overseas in England and Germany. By this time, W.A.A.C. had transitioned to Women's Army Corps (W.A.C.). Throughout her military service, Mansfield took numerous personal photographs that featured her friends and surroundings. They provide an unparalleled amount of insight into the private lives of W.A.C.s as they negotiated what it meant to serve in World War II. Mansfield reenlisted after the war, eventually becoming part of the Women in the Air Force (W.A.F.), and retired in 1973. Photography remained her passion until her death in 2007.
Extent:
14 Linear Feet
1 items 1 camera case
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], Charlotte D. Mansfield collection, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_08_0158.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection relates to Charlotte D. Mansfield who served in the Women's Army Corps during World War II in the European Theater as a photographer and photograph processor. She subsequently retired from the U.S. Air Force. This collection contains documents, photographs, scrapbooks, and artifacts. The documents include personal correspondence, military records, newspaper clippings, newsletters, magazines, and certificates for military service. Various military medals and patches, mugs from U.S. Air Force service, and Graflex 4x5 Pacemaker Speed Graphic camera make up the artifacts. There are eight scrapbooks that Mansfield assembled documenting her military service, primarily overseas, both during World War II and after. Photographs make up the majority of the collection, with one box of loose photographs in separate folders and five archival scrapbooks filled with pictures. There are also four enlarged portraits of Mansfield.

Biographical / historical:

Early Life- Charlotte Dee Mansfield was born in Hanford, CA, August 31, 1915, and moved to Oklahoma when she was eight years old. She had been an avid photographer ever since her father took her to the darkroom of an old Army buddy, and she saw strips of film hanging on a line. She graduated from Garber High School in 1934, and then went on to Tonkawa College before receiving her Bachelor's degree in English from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1941. Mansfield was a reporter, writer, and editor for the college newspaper, which demonstrated how her fascination for photography followed her throughout her educational years. It was an article in Popular Photography Magazine about British military women photographers and their work in aerial photography that inspired her to enlist in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (W.A.A.C.) when World War II began.

    

    


    

    


Custodial history:

This collection was donated by Lorraine A. Caddy. The collection was acquired by the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience on September 10, 2008.

Transferred from the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience to FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives in July 2022.

Processing information:

Processed Summer and Fall 2017

Dimensions:
21x9.75
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open to all researchers.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], Charlotte D. Mansfield collection, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_08_0158.

Location of this collection:
116 Honors Way
Tallahassee
FL
32306-2047
USA