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FAM, 1942 February - April

 File — Box: 5, Folder: 2

Scope and Contents

From the File:

Craig routinely kept incoming envelopes and replaced both the incoming letter, any enclosures, and a copy of his reply within the envelope. They were mostly filed chronologically by the postmark. Sometimes there are several letters in a single envelope. During processing the contents of the envelopes were removed and flattened. If the envelope had information not included in the heading, it was retained and clipped to the back of the incoming correspondence. If the letter was undated, the processor added the date of the postmark in brackets. Occasionally circa dates in brackets have been added to undated letters without an envelope based on where they filed. Undatable letters and other material are filed at the end of the series. Letters written during WWII often displayed a significant difference between the date of a letter and its postmark which indicates when it entered the U.S. postal system. These letters are arranged by date they were written, with the envelope attached to show when they entered the U.S. Post Office system. Due to the extreme acidity of much of the paper used, many affected letters and enclosed newspaper clippings have been scanned by the family and are present on the CDs and/or thumb drives created by the family. The original items were retained, but are extremely fragile and many of them in are in fragments. These letters give a vibrant description of daily lives of this large family’s members as the siblings grew up, dated, married, had children, joined the military, started businesses, sought employment and generally lived their lives. This group of materials gives a vivid account of the Great Depression and World War II, both in the European and Pacific Theatres of War as well as on the home front.

Dates

  • Other: 1942 February - April

Creator

Extent

From the Collection: 20 Linear Feet (24 boxes)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Processing Information

Processor’s note: Beginning with its first entry on February 7, 1942, Jon Craig kept a diary of his movements up until his discharge on July 5, 1945. There are also separate lists titled “Where I have been from service record;” “Battles;” and “Ribbons/Awards”. A copy of these lists was made by the processor for this folder to serve as a guide to the places he saw during his military career and what he did at each place. This information was deliberately vague in his letters due to censorship considerations. The original lists are in two notebooks filed in the Series 6 – Subject files in the Military folder. The notebooks also contain lists of names and addresses and records of financial transactions during this time period. A note of his movements is made for each change of location in the appropriate folder. Craig left New York on March 4, 1942. H arrived in New Caledonia on April 23, 1942

Repository Details

Part of the Columbus State University Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
4225 University Ave
Columbus Georgia 31907 United States