Collections : [FSU Special Collections & Archives]

This collection consists of the papers of United States Navy Admiral Richard H. Leigh. They include a 17-volume holograph diary, dating 1917-1944, containing official orders, holograph and typed letters, newspaper clippings, printed programs, maps, pictures, and other related items. Also included is a four volume set of personal papers, and a book which Leigh entitled, Whereas, which consists of newspaper clippings, family pictures, programs, doctor bills, and other materials. Many of these documents relate to the history and development of the United States Navy, World War I, and events leading to the conflict with Japan and World War II.

This World War II collection covers the overseas experience of a sailor in the U.S. Navy aboard the escort aircraft carrier U.S.S. Natoma Bay (CVE 62), Composite Squadron 63 (VC-63). The collection includes sets of uniforms, a bomber jacket, personal papers, medals, awards, and a plaque. His personal papers include personnel documents, two journals, captured Japanese papers, the Bluejacket Manual, Natoma Bay records, and various publications from and about the Natoma Bay Association. The papers primarily document his time spent in the Pacific Campaign, although his records also date his trainings in Rhode Island and Jacksonville, Florida. This sailor also has a memoir titled Between Here and There that details his life and military experiences. He died in 2010.

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.

This collection contains a transcript provided by the Reichelt Program for Oral History. Benjamin Epstein was a Jewish American serviceman who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942-1946, and he trained at Fort Logan, Colorado. He was transported on the U.S.S. Dorchester, which was torpedoed by a German U-Boat in February 1943. He described escaping from the sinking ship and swimming to one of two lifeboats. He was picked up by the U.S.S. Escambia and taken to Greenland. He remained in Greenland until January 1945 where he was transferred to Fort Totten, New York and remained there until discharged in 1946.

This collection relates to Lieutenant Clarence H. Ratliff who served in the United States Navy during World War II and his wife Elizabeth P. Ratliff who served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps for almost 7 years. This collection contains military documents, photograph negatives, and miscellaneous documents related to their service.

This collection contains the personal papers and memorabillia of Clifford Robert Cain (United States Navy's, Aviation Radioman First Class, Chief Petty Officer Electronicsman) including his aviator's log book, discharge papers, certificate of training completion, financial records, identification card, leatherbound service record case, and various documents from the Veteran's Administration.  Cain served at Lakehurst Naval Air Station.  He supported the Blimp-Zeppelin program.

This collection is comprised of materials related to the military career and history of Colonel William Morrison Robinson, Jr. Much of the material deals with research and preparation for his books, The Confederate privateers, and Justice in Grey, a history of the judicial system of the Confederate States. Subjects covered by this collection include: American Legal History Society, Harvard University Press, segregation and integration, Confederate commerce, Confederate courts, Colonial national monument in Yorktown, Virginia, Georgia railroads, privateering, Cape Canaveral history, Civil War commanders, Gustavus Woods, Dr. Jonathan J. Jones, fluoridation in Quincy, Florida, Civil War blockade, Confederate engineers, Confederate Navy, C.S.S. Virginia, Georgia history, Mobile, Alabama history, Marcellus A. Stovall, submarines, Texas Navy, United States Coastal and Geodetic Survey, Virginia history, Volunteer Navy, Reconstruction, Confederate uniforms, John Taylor Wood, 14th Amendment, Georgia's Navy, British colonies, Norfolk Navy yard photographs, Pensacola fortifications, Pensacola Bay photographs, Florida maps, and South Africa.

Holograph letter by Cornelius Curtis to "Hon. Gideon Wells," Secretary of the Navy (1863) concerning acts practiced by civil employees of the government in regard to captured Confederate vessels in Florida. Also known as MSS 0-81.

This collection relates to Daniel Duffy who served as a U.S. Navy executive officer in the Pacific Theater during World War II. This collection contains an oral history transcript where Duffy details his experience with the U.S. Navy, the V-12 program, descriptions of his time in the Pacific theater, and the GI Bill.