Special Collections Research Center

Scope and Contents

Letters, 1943-1946, of Harold R. Cunningham, a Navy chaplain from California.  Includes letters written while at the Chaplain's School at the College of William & Mary and while on subsequent duty assignments in Wales, at the Sampson Naval Training Center in New York and aboard the USS Arkansas.  Most of the letters are addressed to his mother in California.  All others are addressed to  his wife.

Scope and Contents

Scrapbook of Robert L. Curtin, covering the years 1941-1949, including his years served in the U.S. Navy, 1943-1945. Included are letters of both private and military nature, photographs, newspaper clippings, military orders, wedding announcements, telegrams, invitations, and currency. Places mentioned in the scrapbook are Connecticut; Massachusetts; Camp Peary, Williamsburg, Virginia; California; and the Philippines.

Scope and Contents

Letters, 1944-1945, of Howard Ramey, a member of the United States Naval Construction Battalion, also known as the Seabees, and stationed upon the USS New Jersey during World War II. The letters are primarily written to his grandparents, whose names are unknown. Letters primarily concern Ramey's inquiries about life in the United States as well as his feelings about his service in the Navy. In one letter, Ramey mentions that there is much about which he is not allowed to write.

Scope and Contents The collection consists mostly of love letters between Ella-May Abbott of New Orleans, Louisiana and Walter James Rathbun who is based in ship ports in the United States, Europe, Nicaragua and the Panama Canal Zone.  Letters from Walter Rathbun’s Mother, Mrs. J. Baird of Floral Park, New Jersey and other family members are included. Ella-May and Walter begin a correspondence courtship in 1916, then breakup in 1919. They begin writing to each other again in 1926 and finally marry...

Scope and Contents

The Ridell Family papers is primarily correspondence between Robert Calvin Ridell and his parents in Kerny, Nebraska. There is also correspondence from other family members, friends, and others. Ridell is nearly always addressed as Calvin. Ridell was a member of the United States Navy and correspondence dates from his time in training and while he was deployed at sea during World War II. Much of the correspondence and other printed material in the collection is from 1943-1946.

Scope and Contents Professional and personal papers of Parke Shepherd Rouse, Jr. who was a newspaper writer and columnist and an author of books on Virginia. His personal correspondence covers his college years at Washington and Lee University; his years in the Navy during World War II; his early career while working in Richmond, Virginia and Newport News, Virginia; and his business affairs. His college and Navy letters include not only the letters he wrote home, but the letters he received from...

Scope and Contents

Papers of "U.S.S. Attala" with W.S.G. Davis the Commanding Officer. Appear to be stationed in or near Pearl Harbor. Contains memos with commands, usually signed by N. M. Brown, Lieutenant of the United States Navy Reserve, newsletter entitled "The Attala X-Ray," and "Plan of the Day" for days in 1945-1946. Includes typed carbon copy of August 11, 1945 notice received from WVTK Armed Services Radio Station Leyte, Philippines about the terms of the Japanese surrender proposal.

Scope and Contents Official documents, photographs, and other material related to the service of the USS Hyades (AF-28), a store ship built during World War II and which served until the 1970s. Primarily includes copies of reports of changes, muster rolls, deck logs, and photographs relating to the USS Hyades' service during World War II. There are also copies of other similar documents scattered throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Finally, there is printed ephemera related to the USS Hyades. Addition material...