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The Pohl Papers are comprised principally of manuscripts, drafts, notes, proofs, and other documents relating to science fiction and nonfiction works written by Frederik Pohl.  The collection also includes correspondence, speeches given by Mr. Pohl, and reviews of his publications.  Although the earliest items date from 1952, most of the materials range from the early 1970s through 2005.

This collection relates to retired U.S. Navy Captain Fred S. Bertsch Jr. who served as the Engineer Officer during World War II in the Pacific Theater of Operations on the destroyer U.S.S. Case and the Korean War as a naval aviator.  The collection includes a daily handwritten log journal of activities aboard the U.S.S Case which begins with his eyewitness account of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, including the attack of the U.S.S. Arizona Battleship, through the end of 1943.  The collection also contains 133 original color slides, and digitized prints of the slides, taken by Bertsch Jr. aboard the U.S.S  Case during the Aleutian Island campaign in 1942, additional photographs, documents, artifacts, newspaper articles, and two publications authored by Bertsch Jr.