WAR RECORDS COMMISSION:

An Inventory of Its Collected Materials at the Minnesota Historical Society

Government Records

Expand/CollapseOVERVIEW

Creator: Minnesota War Records Commission.
Title:Collected Materials.
Dates:1909-1936 (bulk 1917-1920).
Language:Materials in English.
Abstract:Papers of individuals, records of organizations, and printed materials relating to wartime activities, collected or compiled by the War Records Commission.
Quantity:6.5 cubic feet (6 boxes and 2 partial boxes).
Location: See Detailed Description for shelf locations.

Expand/CollapseSCOPE AND CONTENTS

Includes records of the American Legion Auxiliary, Minnesota Dames of the Loyal Legion, Minnesota Hall of States Hostess Committee, St. Paul Red Cross (Fire Relief File), Jewish Welfare Board, Women's Naval Service, Daughters of the American Revolution, and National Guard Company I, Third Minnesota Infantry; personal and official papers or collections of Horace C. Klein, Washington Yale, Hugo V. Koch, B. L. Kingsley, James Ells, Mrs. Edward Feldhauser, Dawson Johnston, Swen Bernard, George W. McCree, A. X. Schall, Martin Calkins Briggs, Bertha Heilbron, Cecil Shirk, Sidney Levy, Clarence B. Winter, James Dudley, and Richard Stone; and records of or relating to the Minnesota Adjutant General, Minnesota Home Guard, American Protective League, Knights of Columbus, University of Minnesota, YMCA, YWCA, District Draft Board No. 3 (St. Paul), United Spanish War Veterans, and various benevolent and fraternal organizations.

Also includes materials relating to the soldiers' bonus, attitudes of newspapers, memorial projects, war risk insurance, war saving stamps, and student army training corps; regimental histories and other material relating to the 8th Army Corps, 25th Regiment of Engineers, 34th Division, 36th Division, 54th Pioneer Infantry, and 88th Division; materials relating to research, editing, and production for History of the 151st Field Artillery and Minnesota in the War with Germany; lists of servicemen (and women); maps; patriotic song sheets and sheet music; and South St. Paul in the World War.


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Expand/CollapseADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Minnesota War Records Commission. Collected Materials. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: None

Processing Information:

Catalog ID number: 001704140


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DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Location
109.F.7.10FJewish Welfare Board:
Organization Materials.
Minutes and Reports.
Correspondence, May-December 1918. 5 folders.
Expense Statements.
Gymol Doled Club.
Letters from Relatives and Soldiers.
Printed Materials.
Bulletins and Circulars.
Women’s Naval Service:
Minutes.
Membership Lists.
Financial Reports, Invoices, etc.
Letters from Navy Boys.
Navy Mothers.
Correspondence, Charter.
Correspondence and Miscellany.
Minnetonka Chapter Records.
Includes minutes, secretary’s and treasurer’s reports, and letters from French orphans.
National Guard Records of Company I, 3rd Minnesota Infantry:
Descriptive Lists, Enlistment Papers, and Service Records. 5 packets.
Correspondence and Reports. 2 folders.
Daughters of the American Revolution: Reports of Chapters Regarding War Work, 1920-1921.
Done at the request of the DAR’s state historian in cooperation with the War Records Commission.
Location
109.F.7.12FAmerican Legion Auxiliary: Unit Histories, compiled 1931-1936.
Minnesota Dames of the Loyal Legion: Records, 1909-1916.
St. Paul Liberty Gardens Poster and Certificate. 2 items.
Minnesota Hall of States Hostess Committee: Records and Visitor Registers. 1 folder and 4 volumes.
Horace C. Klein Papers, 1918.
Correspondence of Klein, who apparently served on a War Industries Board’s review board for building permit applications for non-war construction. Klein, of Farmer magazine, advised the board on farm construction.
Washington Yale/War Service Exchange Papers, 1918.
Correspondence relating to applications for jobs with the U. S. Shipping Board.
Hugo V. Koch Papers, 1918-1919. 4 folders.
Koch was federal director, U. S. Employment Service, St. Paul.
Materials, Including Minutes, Relating to the Activity of the Bureau for Returning Soldiers and Sailors, St. Paul. 2 folders.
Weekly and Monthly Reports of Employment Made to the Director General of the U. S. Employment Service.
Progress Reports and Other Reports Relating to Employment Problems and Employment Service Organizational Problems in Minnesota.
Includes a report regarding rebuilding after the forest fires at Moose Lake and Cloquet.
B. L. Kingsley Papers, 1922.
Materials regarding a soldier’s bonus claim.
James Ells Papers.
Report on war service; sent to the Hennepin County War Records Committee.
The Vigilantes Letters, 1917.
Letters sent by The Vigilantes, a Non-partisan Organization of Authors, Artists and Others for Patriotic Purposes (headquartered in New York), primarily describing its activities.
Mrs. Edward Feldhauser Papers, 1918.
Relating to Mrs. Feldhauser’s activities in the Women’s Division of the Patriotic League of St. Paul, Red Cross Auxiliary, DAR, and Women’s Section of the Navy League. Includes correspondence, membership lists, and a scrapbook relating to the Patriotic League.
Dawson Johnston Collection. 2 folders.
Primarily copies of servicemen’s and servicewomen’s letters made by Dr. Dawson Johnston, St. Paul Public Library; also copies of transmittal letters accompanying the original letters. Includes photographs.
Swen Bernard Collection. 2 folders.
Primarily letters received by Reverend John Swanson, pastor of a church on St. Paul’s East Side; also a few War Service Record forms distributed and collected by Swen Bernard. Includes Bernard’s correspondence with Franklin Holbrook and photographs.
Letters from Stanley Goldberg, Alan I. Firestone, and Walter P. Levy received by Bertha Heilbron, 1918.
Cecil W. Shirk Letters, 1918-1919.
Letters to Solon J. Buck during Shirk’s military service.
Location
109.F.8.2FGeorge W. McCree Papers.
Correspondence and other material of McCree, identified variously as Civilian Aide, U. S. Public Service Reserve; Recruiting Officer for Engineering Regiments; Civilian Aide to the Adjutant General, U. S.; Civilian Aide to the Adjutant General, Northern Pacific Railway; and in some capacity with the U. S. Railroad Administration. Includes letters concerning recruitment for engineering regiments and assistance to people trying to locate or arrange for hardship discharges.
A. X. Schall Papers, 1917.
Relating to Colonel Schall’s efforts to organize a provisional regiment of men with previous military experience.
[Becker County Honor Roll Photographs], undated. 3 folders.
Portraits; unidentified.
Martin Calkins Briggs Papers.
Military service record and a typed narrative, My War History. The narrative was published in six installments in the Hennepin County Legionnaire, April 21-June 9, 1921.
St. Paul Red Cross Fire Relief File, October 1918-1919. 5 folders.
Primarily correspondence of H. J. Clemans, St. Paul Chapter, American Red Cross secretary, relating to the organization’s relief activities following forest fires in northern Minnesota.
Lists of Official U. S. Photographs Showing the Activities of Divisions. 4 folders.
Compiled by the Historical Branch, War Plans Division, General Staff; document many, but not all, of the 1st-7th, 26th-37th, and 42nd-93rd divisions. Also a number of special lists.
List of Gold Star Men and Nearest Relative.
List of Members of Draft Boards’ Legal Advisory Boards.
Fort Snelling Training Camp Directory.
Report on Organization and Activities of State Councils of Defense, June 18, 1917.
Compiled by the Council of National Defense, Section on Cooperation with States.
Location
103.K.8.14FApplications for Admission to the [U. S. War Department] Field Artillery Central Officers Training School, A-Z, 1918. 3 folders.
War Trade Board: Compiled Statement of Import Restrictions.
Patriotic Song Sheets:
Reconstruction or Dandie Uncle Sammie.
Camp Songs of the United States Army and Navy.
Liberty Anthem.
Liberty Chorus and Community Song Sheet.
Welcome Home Song Sheet.
Minneapolis War Camp Community Service Song Sheet.
War Camp Community Service Songsheet.
St. Paul – The Christmas City.
Songs We Like to Sing (YMCA).
Patriotic Sheet Music:
Our Liberty Bell.
Goodbye Broadway, Hello France.
Our Yankee Lads.
Dear Little Boy of Mine.
Have a Smile.
Welcome Home, Laddie Boy, Welcome Home.
That Wonderful Mother of Mine.
Persian Pearl.
You Can’t Beat Us, If It Takes Ten Million More.
Dear Old USA I’m Sailing Back to You.
Three Wonderful Letters from Home.
The Roll Call: A Masque of the Red Cross.
Minneapolis Makes Good.
Location
103.K.17.2FDecorations.
Foreign Decorations.
Adjutant General (Minnesota):
Applications and Recommendations Regarding New National Guard Regiments, 1918.
Statements of Service (Corrections), 1925.
Minnesota Home Guard: Special Orders, 1st-15th Battalions, 1918. 10 folders.
American Protective League: Blank Forms, 1918-1919.
Benevolent and Fraternal Organizations, 1918-1920.
Materials relating to the activities of the Sons of the Revolution, the Woman’s Relief Corps (GAR Auxiliary), Degree of Honor, Junior Pioneers, Association of St. Anthony Falls, Elks, Daughters of the American Revolution, and Minneapolis Society for the Blind.
Bonus Papers, 1919-1920.
Application forms, informational circulars, copies of legislative bills, and other materials relating to the soldiers’ bonus.
Draft: Chronicles of Selective Draft, 1918-1924.
A few narrative histories of, and collections of anecdotes regarding, the activities of local draft boards; and correspondence regarding the efforts of the Minnesota and Ramsey County war records commissions to assemble the material.
A History of the Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces [Project Proposal], undated.
Prepared by the AEF History Section, Information Group, Office of the Chief of Air Service.
Graves Registration, January 15, 1920. 1 item in 1 folder.
Location of Graves and Disposition of Bodies of American Soldiers Who Died Overseas: Special Report of the Statistics Branch, General Staff, War Department.
Knights of Columbus, 1929. 2 items in 1 folder.
Report on expenditures in Minnesota (1918-1928) and a letter regarding a national Catholic War Council handbook.
Memorial Projects, 1919.
Leaflets and bulletins of the Minnesota State Memorial Commission, the National Committee on Memorial Buildings, and the National Commission of Fine Arts.
Military Terms: Abbreviations, undated. 1 item in 1 folder.
Newspapers, Attitudes of, 1917.
Includes notes made by Franklin F. Holbrook, as Minnesota Historical Society field agent, while traveling through the state collecting material for the Society and inventorying county archives. Includes observations on local sentiment regarding the war, whether or not reflected in newspapers. Also includes a few excerpts from newspapers.
Printed Matter: Samples of Wartime Printing, 1919.
Primarily correspondence regarding the collection of printed matter by the War Records Commission.
Printed Forms, War Savings Societies, circa 1917-1920.
University of Minnesota, 1919-1920.
Includes Services of Minnesota History Teachers in the World War, by William Stearns Davis (June 1920); The Land Grant Colleges and the War, a report to the U. S. Bureau of Education, Department of the Interior, circa 1918; and War Activities of the Department of Agriculture, University of Minnesota, April 1917 to August 1, 1918.
War Risk Insurance, circa 1920.
Circular, report, and manual of procedure, and digest of war risk insurance law, all from the U. S. Treasury Department, Bureau of War Risk Insurance.
War Savings Stamps, circa 1917-1919.
Circulars, blank forms, news releases, and other materials relating to war savings programs.
YMCA, 1920.
Lists of war workers and a copy of the decision of the umpire of the German-American Mixed Claims Commission that YMCA workers were not civilians and thus not entitled to recovery of damages from Germany for loss of property.
YWCA, 1920-1921.
St. Paul Pioneer Press clipping (November 28, 1920), correspondence regarding lists of war workers, and correspondence regarding acquisition of YWCA records by the War Records Commission.
History of the 151st Field Artillery:
Drafts, copies of official documents, photographs, and correspondence relating to research, editing, and production by the Minnesota War Records Commission.
Collins Manuscript:
Early History of the Regiment.
Journey to France and Training in France.
In the Lorraine Line.
Champagne Defensive.
German Retreat from the Marne.
Reduction of the St. Mihiel Salient.
To the Rhine.
The Meuse-Argonne.
Revised Manuscript:
In the Lorraine Line.
Champagne Defensive.
On to the Veale.
The Meuse-Argonne.
Documents Omitted from Appendix. 2 folders.
Honors Received by Members of the 151st.
Post War Organization.
Want Lists for War Department.
Correspondence with Washington.
Specifications and Printing Record.
Correspondence with Colonel Leach (and others).
Acknowledgments and Comments.
Miscellaneous Correspondence.
Early History.
Collins Correspondence.
Correspondence with Wayne Stevens (Editor).
Correspondence Regarding Research.
Editor’s Report.
Photographs. 2 folders.
Map Plate.
Minnesota in the War with Germany:
Correspondence regarding research and documentation, copies of official documents, and other materials relating to its publication by the Minnesota Historical Society (1928, 1932).
Chapter III, State Troops Called into Federal Service. 2 folders.
Chapter IV, Recruiting: New Material.
Chapter VI, O.T.C. (Officers Training Camps): New Material.
Chapter VII, O.T.C. (Winter).
Chapter VII [VIII?], Dunwoody: New Material.
Chapter XI, State Troops in Federal Service: New Material.
Chapter XI [XII?], Washington Researches: 34th Division, April 1925.
Chapter XVII, Seven Welfare Agencies.
District Draft Board No. 3:
Includes minutes, case files, correspondence with local boards, and other correspondence.
Correspondence with Adjutant General (Minnesota).
Minutes.
Itemized List of Property.
Correspondence with Provost Marshal General.
Miscellaneous Correspondence.
Miscellaneous Correspondence and Case Files. 2 folders.
Miscellaneous Case Files.
Miscellaneous.
Correspondence with Local Boards:
Benton-Morrison counties. 3 folders.
Location
127.K.11.3BOtter Tail-Wilkin counties and St. Paul. 5 folders.
United Spanish War Veterans:
General Orders, 1910-1922.
Incomplete.
Correspondence and Miscellany, 1912-1914.
Index to Minnesota Volunteers (Spanish War).
Military Order of the Serpent Materials, 1913-1914.
Worth Bagley Camp No. 2.
Camp No. 3 [?]
Hamilton Fish Camp No. 7.
Charles E. Bond Camp No. 9.
Henry W. Lawton Camp No. 12.
Major A. M. Diggles Camp No. 13.
Sidney Levy Papers: 351st Infantry Information Memorandum No. 4.
Clarence B. Winter Papers:
Army General Staff College, AEF: France, Fourth Course: Staff Ride, The Meuse-Argonne Operations, January 1919. 2 folders.
Miscellany.
Miscellany Regarding Meuse-Argonne Operations. 3 folders.
James Dudley Papers, 1917-1919.
Material relating primarily to activities of the 350th Infantry.
Richard Stone Papers, 1918. 2 folders.
Material relating primarily to army personnel, possibly at Camp Grant, Illinois.
8th Army Corps Roster of Officers and Orders, 1919.
25th Regiment of Engineers:
History, Parts I-VI, pages 1-106.
Reports, Rosters, and War Diaries.
Regimental History (Report of December 12, 1918).
34th Division:
Report on Training.
General Order No. 18, September 28, 1917.
Training Report, May 13-15, 1918.
Field Order No. 1, August 14, 1918.
Program Reports, 1917-1918.
Monthly Returns, August 31, 1917-June 30, 1918.
History of the 59th Field Artillery Brigade.
125th Field Artillery, Diary of Company A, July 15-October 1, 1917; Battery A, October 1, 1917-March 27, 1918.
136th Infantry, Account of “Vin d’honneur” to Officers, November 5, 1918.
136th Infantry Record of Events, Voyage of RMS Melita.
Report on Training, 136th Infantry, August 25-September 8, 1918.
Location
127.K.11.4FWeekly Bulletins 1-40. 3 folders.
36th Division Historical Bulletin, 1919.
54th Pioneer Infantry Miscellaneous Documents, 1918-1919.
88th Division:
History, August 1917-May 1919. 5 folders.
Summaries of Intelligence, October-November 1918.
Monthly Returns, August 31, 1917-June 30, 1918.
Field Orders 5-10, October 4-November 28, 1918.
U. S. Army Report on Line Officers Training Schools, February 28, 1919.
Student Army Training Corps and Naval Reserve Force.
Student Army Training Corps Documents Concerning Military Training in College.
University of Minnesota Report on Student Army Training Corps, Vocational Section.
University of Minnesota College of Engineering and Architecture Report on Training of Telephone Electricians, April 1919.
Dunwoody Institute Report on Army Training, January 6, 1919.
Maps.
Primarily maps of Europe, circa 1914-1918; also includes a map of Gettysburg.
Miscellaneous Materials Collected.

Expand/CollapseCATALOG 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:
Bounties, Military -- Minnesota.
Draft -- Minnesota.
Military pensions -- Minnesota.
War memorials -- Minnesota.
War risk insurance -- Minnesota.
War tax stamps -- Minnesota.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Minnesota -- Public opinion.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Minnesota -- Songs and music.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Minnesota -- War work -- Red Cross.
World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Minnesota -- History.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Minnesota -- War work -- Young Men's Christian Associations.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Minnesota -- War work -- Young Women's Christian Associations.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Minnesota.
Persons:
Bernard, Swen, 1860-
Briggs, Martin Calkins, 1891-
Collins, Louis Loren, 1882- -- History of the 151st Field Artillery, Rainbow Division.
Dudley, James.
Ells, James.
Feldhauser, Edward, Mrs.
Heilbron, Bertha L. (Bertha Lion), 1895-1972.
Holbrook, Franklin F. (Franklin Fisk), 1883-1955 -- Minnesota in the War with Germany.
Johnston, Dawson.
Kingsley, Burton L., 1879-1944.
Klein, Horace C.
Koch, Hugo V.
Levy, Sidney.
McCree, George W.
Schall, Anthony X., 1879-1932.
Shirk, Cecil Wayne, 1892-
Stone, Richard.
Winter, Clarence B.
Yale, Washington.
Organizations:
American Legion. Auxiliary.
Daughters of the American Revolution. Minnesota Society.
Knights of Columbus.
Minnesota Home Guard.
Minnesota. Adjutant General's Office.
Minnesota. National Guard.
National Jewish Welfare Board.
United Spanish War Veterans.
University of Minnesota.
Document Types:
Maps (documents).
Sheet music.
Titles:
1919.

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