Collections

This collection includes letters written to Arnold Busch, a basketball coach for Calvary Methodist Church in Lakewood, Ohio, by the students he previously coached. Whether drafted or enlisted, many of the men kept up a correspondence with Busch throughout the war years. This collection also includes Calvary Church newsletters and pamphlets, pamphlets regarding persons registered for service, ration books and other rationing documents, and letters returned to Busch because their recipients were MIA, deceased, or relocated. Also included are photographs of Calvary Church activities on the Homefront, the basketball team, and the Calvary Church's V-J Day service as well as a copy of an article in which the photograph was featured.

Cecil Blumenstein (served 1943-1945) discusses his experiences in the 13th Armored Division in Germany in the winter and spring of 1945. Blumenstein was captured and spent a brief period of time in a POW camp before being liberated and sent back to the front. He fought in several engagements. This collection consists of an interview transcript.

In an oral history interview, Harriette Shulman recalls her experiences as a war bond coordinator on the Home Front during World War II.  A good portion of the transcript is off topic about World War II, but it also contains information on how Shulman, who is Jewish, dealt with American anti-Semitism. Here she talks about anti-Semitism and slurs used against her by acquaintances.

This collection relates to Hazel Louis Bowman who worked for the Signal Corps and lived in India with the American Red Cross for two years. Bowman's collection contains six full boxes, one oversize box, a phono records box, and two photograph boxes. Four of the boxes include letters written to and from Hazel to her parents, family, neighbors, and friends. The collection also contains an oral history transcript, newsletters and bulletins, American Red Cross publications, her diary, a book written by Bowman, photograph albums, and ephemera.

This collection primarily consists of the letters of John B. Savard, an American soldier who fought in World War II and saw action at the Normandy landings, the Battle for Brest, and the D-Day Landings. Most of the material consists of letters to and from his parents, though letters from other soldiers are included. In addition to letters, this collection contains Savard's sketches, a poem he wrote detailing his reaction to the Battle of the Bulge, a manuscript of his autobiography detailing his life from birth to his time as a US Postal Worker and several photographs taken during the Second World War.

The Paul Curtis Koerner Collection was donated by his daughter Judy Davis. The collection contains a variety of items, papers, and correspondence from Koerner's career as an Army Engineer in WWII. The collection contains his copy of the New Testament that he recieved while training at Camp Blanding, to his death certificate. Overall, the documents and letters provide a rough outline of the experience of army service, during and after the war.  This collection also contains a group photo, stop watch, and medals including Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Armed Forces Service and United Nations Medal, Korean Service Meadal, National Defense Medal, a screw driver, slide ruller, and German back pack.

The collection of Robert Hoffmann contains an oral history transcript provided by the Reichelt Oral History Program. Hoffmann served with the United State Marine Corps during World War II on the island of Guam.

This collection relates to Corporal Robert L. Butler, who served with the U.S. Army Air Corps in the U.S., and his wife Virginia Butler. This collection contains letters sent between Robert and Virginia while he was training at six different locations from 1944 to 1945. Also included in the collection are letters to Robert from his mother Vedale Butler (née Irwin) and letters to Robert from his brother Charles. The letters are personal but some discuss Robert's daily routine while in training. Virginia's letters mostly discuss her day-to-day routine at home in Michigan and the lives of their friends and family.

This collection was compiled by Edward McKenzie and includes a directory of New Hampshire Ex-POWs book. It is a boxed collection of approroximately 20 individual collections of American POWs who were interned at Stalag 17. The individual collections collectively consist of personal papers, transcripts, documents, photographs, and drawings relating to their experiences as prisoners of war.