Archival Collections

This collection relates to Staff Sergeant Bascom Walden Sparkman who served with Service Company, 753rd Tank Battalion, in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Southern France, and Germany during World War II. The 753rd served as a detached unit assigned as armored support for both the 36th and 45th Infantry Divisions.  The collection includes letters sent from Sparkman to his wife Eleanor and his family.  Letters from his family to Sparkman are also included.  Furthermore, the collection includes documents, unit newspapers, diaries, postcards, personal items carried by Sparkman, and artifacts.

Personal items of Florida State College for Women student Florence Gregory (B.A. Sociology, 1940) and Florida State University (M.S., Social Work, 1962). Items includes photographs, scrapbooks, and other ephemera related to her years as a student at FSCW/FSU.

This transcript pertains to Joseph E. Peel, a gunner's mate who served aboard the USS Antietam starting in 1944. While the transcribed interview includes Peel's testimony on the latter years of World War II, it mostly details his experiences attending college after the war under the benefits of the GI Bill.

This collection relates to Lloyd Donald Haynes who served as a Staff Sergeant stenographer with Headquarters, Third Air Force, and then a Chief Warrant Officer as administrative assistant to the Executive, The Air Inspector, U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Hicks also continued to serve on active duty during the postwar period until 1949. The collection includes military personnel documents, photographs, diplomas, certificates, and newspaper articles. Several photographs include U.S. Air Force Secretary W. Stuart Symington in 1949. Included are numerous photographs of London, England, and Germany in 1949.

The Sam Lamar Collection consists mainly of correspondence, photographs, and other documents from 1946-1951 related to his time as a student at the Tallahassee Branch of the University of Florida (TBUF) and later Florida State University.

Susan M. Pittman was the younger daughter of Colonel Wallace Fisher Stovall, the founder of the Tampa Tribune Publishing Company, Florida. The collection includes Susan's personal files, seven scrapbooks detailing her life and activities, materials related to her first husband Richard A. Mack, various greeting cards, letters, and stamps. A stitched landscape of Pittman's childhood home which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places is also found in the collection.

This collection relates to Todd Silverman who served in the U.S. Navy as a radio and radar operator on PBY and PBM flying boats in the Pacific Theater Operation. The collection contains an oral history transcript and photographs.

Scrapbook of Florida State College for Women student, Victoria J. Lewis, class of 1944 (BS, Education). Items include photographs of her friends, and memorabilia related to her participation in the F Club, Evens, Esteren, and other student organizations.

This collection relates to U.S. Army Chaplain William Knight Thompson who served in New Guinea at Oro Bay and the Philippine Islands in the Pacific Theater during World War II. After active duty service, Thompson remained in the U.S. Army Reserves until his retirement with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1958. The collection includes photographs, documents, and ephemera. Many photographs include native peoples of New Guinea. Several unpublished photographs include actor Gary Cooper during his visit to Oro Bay, New Guinea in 1944.