Joe Gray Sparks papers, 1915-1994, Date accessioned: 2019-04-24
Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Sparks, Joe Gray, 1915-1994
- Sparks, Patricia J., Dr.
- Extent:
- 1 folders
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], Joe Gray Sparks papers, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_19_0007
Background
- Scope and content:
This collection relates to Captain Joe Gray Sparks who served as a pilot with the 11 Bomb Squadron in the Pacific Theater during World War II. This collection includes a flash memory drive containing scanned copies of letters, documents, photographs, manuscript biography, newspaper articles, and artifacts that belonged to Sparks.
- Biographical / historical:
Joe Gray Sparks was born May 9, 1915 in Douglas, AZ. His family lived in Tombstone, AZ until 1922 when they moved to Tucson, AZ. While in Tombstone, Sparks' father worked as a conductor on the El Paso Southwestern railroad. Tombstone had about 4000 people at that time.
Arriving back in the US, he went home to see his family, then out to California to see Melba to propose marriage, but then had to quickly return Berry field in Nashville, Tennessee. In Nashville, TN, he had the job of interviewing incoming pilots from overseas and reporting their qualifications to Cincinnati headquarters of the ferrying division of the Air Transport Command. He quite enjoyed this and did his best to get them stationed in jobs that they wanted.
Sparks moved to Tucson and spent most of 1947 and 1948 taking several college courses. On February 4, 1949, he married Patricia H. Fitz. He originally met her in Tacoma in 1941 and then became reacquainted with her in 1948 when they both were living in Tucson Arizona. Sparks returned to college full time on the GI Bill and obtained a BA in business administration.
- Custodial history:
Transferred from the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience to FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives in July 2022.
- 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], Joe Gray Sparks papers, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_19_0007
- Location of this collection:
-
116 Honors WayTallahasseeFL32306-2047USA
