CLARENCE M. FORESTER:
An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
Part or all of this collection is restricted.
For
details, please see restrictions.
OVERVIEW
| Creator: | Forester, Clarence M., creator. | |
| Title: | Clarence M. Forester papers. | |
| Dates: | 1937-1939, 1945, 1996-1997, 2000. | |
| Language: | Materials in English, French , and Spanish. | |
| Abstract: | Photocopies of photographs, military documents, menus, and newspaper clippings of a Minnesota volunteer in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade of the Spanish Republican Army during the Spanish Civil War; and photographs and news clippings of a 1996 reunion of Brigade veterans in Spain. | |
| Quantity: | 0.5 cubic feet (2 boxes and 1 folder in Reserve) and 1 video file: MP4 (816 MB). | |
| Location: | See Detailed Description section for shelf locations. |
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Clarence Michael Forester was born in 1915 at Alfred, North Dakota. His father died when he was a young child, and his mother supported the family running a restaurant and taking in laundry. Forester left home at age 13 to work on a farm, and at age 15 came to Minneapolis.
In 1937-1938 Forester was a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, a group of 2700 American volunteers who fought in the Spanish Civil War for the Loyalist government against a military insurgency led by General Francisco Franco. They with other young men from non-Spanish countries made up the International Brigade. Forester served with Republican artillery units, and returned from Spain in December 1938. The war ended with Franco's capture of Madrid in March 1939.
During World War II Forester served with the United States Army, participating in the drive across France and Germany (1944-1945). He apparently was a member of the First Army's 188th Field Artillery Battalion.
Forester returned to Minneapolis after the war, where he worked factory jobs and as a machinist. He retired around 1983.
In November 1996 Forester and 380 International Brigade volunteers, including 70 members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, traveled to Spain as guests of the Spanish government on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the formation of the International Brigade and as a tribute to their unsuccessful struggle to defend the Spanish Republic against fascism. The veterans were made honorary citizens of Spain.
Forester's wife Hazel (Haapala) died in 1987. The couple were married for 46 years and had no children. Forester died in Minneapolis November 29, 2004.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
The earlier photographs were primarily taken at the battle for Teruel (1937) and at a celebration ([November 7, 1937?]) with war correspondents near Madrid. There are also military documents, French menus, a newspaper clipping, and a Lincoln Brigade veteran's membership booklet.
The collection also contains materials related to the 1996 Brigade reunion in Spain, including news articles, speeches, name tags, and three photograph albums filled with color snapshots. Most of the material is in Spanish. There is also a map showing movements of the 188th Field Artillery Battalion across France and Germany (1944-1945).
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Restrictions:
Acess to and use of reserve materials requires the curator's permission.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Clarence M. Forester Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.
Accession Information:
Accession numbers: 14,410; 15,573; 15,835; 17,537
Location of Master Files:
Digital master of videotape is maintained on the Society's secure digital collections storage servers and are managed and preserved in accordance with archival best practices.
Processing Information:
Processed by: Frank Hennessy, April 1991 and David B. Peterson, February 1999
Digital video transferred from the master videotape by the Minnesota Historical Society for preservation purposes (April 2018).
Catalog ID number: 001714523
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
| Box | |||||||||||
| P1822 | 1 | Papers (photocopies), 1937-1939. | |||||||||
| Wallet-size photographs that include Italian planes that were shot down, fortifications, damaged buildings, Italian prisoners, a military convoy, and civilians leaving the city. Photographs of Ernest Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, and Langston Hughes are among those taken at the celebration in Madrid. The photographs are accompanied by an identification list. | |||||||||||
| The military documents (1937-1938) are in Spanish and include two military identification notebooks (September 9, 1937 and January 12, 1938) containing Forester's photograph and a record of his transfers, illnesses, service at the front, and pay; an authorization to cross into France (November 27, 1938); a repatriation pass (November 30, 1938); and a permit to take the photographs out of Spain. There are also two French menus (December 7 and December 13, 1938) from the ship Forester returned on; a newspaper clipping (December 21, 1938) relating his arrival in Minneapolis; and a membership booklet for veterans of the Lincoln Brigade (January 1, 1939). | |||||||||||
| Reserve 59 | Papers (originals), 1937-1939. | ||||||||||
| Restricted. Access to and use of reserve materials requires the curator's permission. Researchers are directed to use the photocopies. | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||
| P1822 | 1 | Papers, 1996-1997. | |||||||||
| Includes invitations to a meal or reception in Spain that was held November 8, 1996; transcripts of speeches (October 11 and November 10, 1996); name tags; a "Brigadas Homenaje, 1936-1996" lapel pin; and a document granting Forester honorary Spanish citizenship. | |||||||||||
| Photograph albums, [1996?]. 2 albums. | |||||||||||
| Unidentified color snapshots apparently showing Forester and other Lincoln Brigade veterans at their 1996 reunion in Spain. These and a third album (see Box 2) include images of Forester and his comrades and traveling companions at banquets and receptions, at a cemetery apparently containing graves of fallen Brigade members, on a Spanish train, shaking hands with members of a crowd along a Spanish street, and at what appears to be a former battlefield. | |||||||||||
| Photographs, undated, 1938. | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||
| 142.G.6.8F-1 | 2 | Clippings, 1945, 1996. | |||||||||
| Includes Yank magazine of March 4, 1945, which contains an article on one of the leaders of the Lincoln Brigade, and El Pais Andalucia, November 9, 1996. | |||||||||||
| Operations against Germany, World War II, 1945. | |||||||||||
| Cartoon map showing operations of the 188th Field Artillery Battalion, 155mm Howitzer, Trac-Drawn, First U.S. Army (1944-1945), from Selsey, England to Utah Beach, France, and through France and Belgium to Bachra, Germany. Forester apparently served in this unit. The reverse side of the map has signatures and addresses of men serving in the unit. | |||||||||||
| Photograph album, [1996]. | |||||||||||
| Unidentified color snapshots apparently showing Forester and other Lincoln Brigade veterans at their 1996 reunion in Spain. | |||||||||||
| Interview with Jay G. Hutchinson, 2000 March 20. 1 master videocassette (1 hour, 22 minutes): VHS and 1 user video file: MP4 (777 MB). | |||||||||||
| Forester discusses his experiences as a member of the Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. | |||||||||||
Digital version
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RELATED MATERIALS
CATALOG HEADINGS
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
- Topics:
- Anti-fascist movements-Spain.
- Reunions.
- War correspondents-Spain.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Veterans -- Minnesota.
- Places:
- Spain -- History -- Civil War, 1936-1939 -- Campaigns.
- Spain -- History -- Civil War, 1936-1939 -- Participation, Foreign.
- Teruel (Spain).
- Persons:
- Gellhorn, Martha, 1908-1998 -- Pictorial works.
- Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961 -- Pictorial works.
- Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967 -- Pictorial works.
- Organizations:
- Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
- Spain. Ejercito Popular de la Republica. Brigada Internactional, XV.
- United States. Army. Field Artillery Battalion, 188th.
- Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
- Types of Documentation:
- Photographs.
- Video recordings (physical artifacts).
- Occupations:
- Soldiers -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.
- Veterans -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.
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