Collections

Badia Family WWII Letters Collection contains over 500 letters and associated ephemera relating to correspondence between Danny Badia and Leona De Nardo between the years 1941 and 1947. Primarily relating to WWII, these letters offer a glimpse into civilian and military life in the United States during the war years. Danny Badia born Dante Alighieri Badia (1922-2006) to Angelo and Laurina Badia of Ohio. In 1917, Danny's parents immigrated from Italy to the US and started a family. The letters are primarily from Danny's family, future wife and sweetheart Leona De Nardo (née Buccilli). They were married in 1944 and were together for 62 years when Danny passed away in 2006.

Herman "Pat" Herst (1909 – 1999) is most widely recognized for his exceptional contributions to philately. He was a prolific writer of philatelic literature and won every important award in the field, including the American Philatelic Society's Luff award. A third generation Mason, Herst was born and educated in Portland, Oregon, but spent most his life in New York and a member of the Masonic Stamp Club. Herst first championed the popular trend of topical collecting, specializing in specific stamp themes. After his death, his wife Ida donated his collections of Masonic, Philatelic, and Holocaust related material. This unique collection includes rare stamped and cancelled letters from inmates in Concentration Camps and ghetto currency. Also included in the collection are historical documents related to Freemasonry and photocopies of rare materials from and about the Ruhleben German Prisoner of War Camp from 1914 – 1918.

Contains a variety of published and unpublished material that relates to the Jewish Holocaust and Armenian Genocide. Examples of materials include: letters, periodicals, personal narratives, etc.

Stanley Kerner (b. 1926), a native of Brooklyn, New York served in the United States Army during the latter-end of World War II in the Signal Corps attaining the rank of Sergeant. His posting was at Signal Corps Headquarters in Caserta, Italy at the Royal King's Palace from 1945 to 1947.

This important collection includes letters and memoirs written by Frank Korf during his wartime assignment as Officer-in-Charge of a Military Combat Intelligence Team for the 97th Infantry Division of General George S. Patton's 3rd U.S. Army in Europe. Korf, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was a liberator of Flossenburg concentration camp, offers a unique view of the meaning and conduct of war. Additional materials in the Korf Collection include correspondence, photographs and military documents from his post-war tenure as Attorney for the Overseas Branch of the U.S. Department of Justice in Munich and Berlin. It was during this period that Korf was chosen to investigate the authenticity of the Joseph Goebbels' diaries. "Korf's story is unique, as he was not a typical soldier. He was inducted into the army at age 32, older than 95% of the draftees. Korf was at once a victim of Nazism, an immigrant to the U.S. and a man who turned his back on his mother country in order to fight Nazism," states Dr. Patricia Kollander, Florida Atlantic University professor of history and co-author of "I Must Be a Part of This War": a German American's Fight Against Hitler and Nazism (Fordham University Press, 2005).

This collection contains the correspondence of Virginia Huber (1927 – 2014) to and from six servicemen from the vicinity of her hometown in Forrest, Illinois during World War II. The correspondence was carefully collected, arranged, and preserved by Virginia who was a senior in high school when she began writing to several of these young men. Virginia's letters to the servicemen were originally handwritten but she carefully typed and preserved a copy on onion skin paper which she housed in brown folders with each man's name, rank, and location. After graduating from high school, Virginia held the position of secretary to the Traffic Manager at Honnegers' Feeds located in Fairbury, Illinois. She was active in her local church and community, which she writes about in her letters. Because Virginia and the servicemen were united by geographic location, the letters represent a wide range of American military experience during World War II. The six men include: Norman Funk, a Naval airman from Roanoke, Illinois stationed in Jacksonville, FL; Roy Funk, an Army serviceman from Gridley, Illinois stationed in Camp Crowder and Camp Polk; Art Hartman, an Army serviceman from Strawn, Illinois stationed in Camp Lee, Virginia; Raymond Johnson, a Naval serviceman from Illinois; Howard Sauder, an Army sergeant from Roanoke, Illinois stationed in Aleutian Islands; Albert Steffen, a Naval serviceman from Elgin, Illinois stationed in Okinawa. This collection is remarkable for its inclusion of letters by Virginia, providing a complete picture of the correspondence between this woman and the soldiers of World War II.