Military - Special Collections Topics

Scope and content: Photographs taken by Bill Goodman who served as a Marine Corps combat photographer with the First Marine Division in both South and North Korea in 1951 during the Korean War. Images include candid scenes of soldiers in camp and on the march; American tanks, trucks and equipment on the move and damaged by enemy fire; combat scenes including tanks and infantry on the attack, a rocket team in action, and a flamethrower in use; American...

Abstract: These materials center on aviatrix Cornelia Clark Fort, the first female pilot to die on active military duty, during World War II. The collection chronicles Cornelia's career and death through correspondence, official documents, photographs, and a few artifacts, as well as oral interviews and other research collected by Doris Brinker Tanner and Rob Simbeck. The collection touches briefly on the extended Fort family and includes four letters...

Scope and content: Holdings consist of 83 images, most of them snapshots taken while serving with the 105th Observation Squadron, later part of the 820th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 41st Bombardment Group, 7th Air Force. They include images of training early in the war when wooden dummy guns stood in for anti-aircraft guns, and when first aid training took place on a dog. Scenes include training activities on base and on manuevers; a beach party,...

Scope and content: The Franklyn McCord Papers span the time frame of 1862-1984, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1940-1979. Most items relate to Frank McCord's interest in Confederate, Civil War, and Tennessee history, and include some materials relating to or written by his second wife, Margaret, who shared his interests. Materials consist of essays, photographs, and a variety of other materials such as correspondence, scrapbooks of news...

Abstract: Series I: Correspondence, newspaper clippings, and related materials written and compiled by James D. Andrews which document his efforts and advocacy for a new airport in Nashville, Tenn. in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Contains information about Blackwood Field, McConnell Field, Sky Harbor airport near Murfreesboro, and Nashville Municipal Airport, also known as Berry Field, as well as a variety of other aviation-related topics. Abstract:...

Scope and content: Holdings consist of 74 snapshots taken circa 1936-1937 in the vicinity of Schofield Barracks, Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. Many images are unidentified, but they are telling photographs of America's level of preparedness prior to its entry into World War II. They show a time when the Army still relied upon horses for mobility of artillery and weapons, and there are numerous photographs of weaponry which could easily be mistaken...

Scope and content: An original handwritten memoir (359 pages), written in the year 1865, by the Civil War soldier Marcus Woodcock, 9th Kentucky Infantry (U.S.A.). A native Tennessean, Woodcock was an educated Union sympathizer who joined a pro-Union militia in Kentucky that became the Ninth Kentucky Infantry in the Union Army. Woodcock's own account of his experiences during the Civil War provides narrative descriptions of camp life, period politics,...

Scope and content: The bulk of the collection dates from 1862-1865 and consists of letters from Peter J. Williamson back home to his wife, Eunice, during the Civil War. There are a few letters written by relatives, including Peter's brother, William Williamson. The collection also includes 10 letters from 1869 written by Peter J. Williamson to his wife when she was visiting relatives in California. Several of the letters are either in Dutch or...

Scope and content: Readers of the Tennessean sent in essays, poems, songs, and other items to the newspaper concerning their thoughts and feelings about the one year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Some reflected on how their feelings have changed since that time; others wrote about their experiences on that day. Submissions came from communities throughout Middle Tennessee, although the majority of submissions were from the...

Scope and content: Holdings consist of 1 folder of items such as military documents, correspondence, and a reunion brochure, and 70 photographs taken circa 1943-1945 aboard the destroyer escort, USS Mosley (DE-321), one of several Navy vessels manned by Coast Guard crews. The Mosley served on patrol in the Mediterranean, primarily in the vicinity of Tunisia and French Morocco. Images show life aboard ship, including drills, deck guns, and refueling...