Archival Collections

This collection consists of the papers of United States Navy Admiral Richard H. Leigh. They include a 17-volume holograph diary, dating 1917-1944, containing official orders, holograph and typed letters, newspaper clippings, printed programs, maps, pictures, and other related items. Also included is a four volume set of personal papers, and a book which Leigh entitled, Whereas, which consists of newspaper clippings, family pictures, programs, doctor bills, and other materials. Many of these documents relate to the history and development of the United States Navy, World War I, and events leading to the conflict with Japan and World War II. Other subjects covered by this collection includes: United States, England, Ireland, France, Navy life at sea, California, New York, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park, Orlando, San Diego, Claremont, California, submarine chasers, detection devices, Siwash Indians, USS Oregon, map of Pacific Islands, Franklin Delano Roosevelt photograph, Honolulu, San Francisco, and naval training.

This World War II collection covers the overseas experience of a sailor in the U.S. Navy aboard the escort aircraft carrier U.S.S. Natoma Bay (CVE 62), Composite Squadron 63 (VC-63). The collection includes sets of uniforms, a bomber jacket, personal papers, medals, awards, and a plaque. His personal papers include personnel documents, two journals, captured Japanese papers, the Bluejacket Manual, Natoma Bay records, and various publications from and about the Natoma Bay Association. The papers primarily document his time spent in the Pacific Campaign, although his records also date his trainings in Rhode Island and Jacksonville, Florida. This sailor also has a memoir titled Between Here and There that details his life and military experiences. He died in 2010.

This collection includes letters written to Arnold Busch, a basketball coach for Calvary Methodist Church in Lakewood, Ohio, by the students he previously coached. Whether drafted or enlisted, many of the men kept up a correspondence with Busch throughout the war years. This collection also includes Calvary Church newsletters and pamphlets, pamphlets regarding persons registered for service, ration books and other rationing documents, and letters returned to Busch because their recipients were MIA, deceased, or relocated. Also included are photographs of Calvary Church activities on the Homefront, the basketball team, and the Calvary Church's V-J Day service as well as a copy of an article in which the photograph was featured. The letters included in this collection discuss subjects such as classes, training, camp life, and local towns wherever they are posted. Some letters contain some sexually explicit material.

The Calista Louise Bliler collection consists of official military papers and personal photographs, letters, and notes of the first woman to become an officer from the U.S. Naval Air Station in Dallas, TX.

This collection contains the personal papers and memorabillia of Clifford Robert Cain (United States Navy's, Aviation Radioman First Class, Chief Petty Officer Electronicsman) including his aviator's log book, discharge papers, certificate of training completion, financial records, identification card, leatherbound service record case, and various documents from the Veteran's Administration.  Cain served at Lakehurst Naval Air Station.  He supported the Blimp-Zeppelin program.

This collection is comprised of materials related to the military career and history of Colonel William Morrison Robinson, Jr. Much of the material deals with research and preparation for his books, The Confederate privateers, and Justice in Grey, a history of the judicial system of the Confederate States. Subjects covered by this collection include: American Legal History Society, Harvard University Press, segregation and integration, Confederate commerce, Confederate courts, Colonial national monument in Yorktown, Virginia, Georgia railroads, privateering, Cape Canaveral history, Civil War commanders, Gustavus Woods, Dr. Jonathan J. Jones, fluoridation in Quincy, Florida, Civil War blockade, Confederate engineers, Confederate Navy, C.S.S. Virginia, Georgia history, Mobile, Alabama history, Marcellus A. Stovall, submarines, Texas Navy, United States Coastal and Geodetic Survey, Virginia history, Volunteer Navy, Reconstruction, Confederate uniforms, John Taylor Wood, 14th Amendment, Georgia's Navy, British colonies, Norfolk Navy yard photographs, Pensacola fortifications, Pensacola Bay photographs, Florida maps, and South Africa.

Holograph letter by Cornelius Curtis to "Hon. Gideon Wells," Secretary of the Navy (1863) concerning acts practiced by civil employees of the government in regard to captured Confederate vessels in Florida. Also known as MSS 0-81.

This collection relates to Diana Naylor Morgan who served as a junior USO hostess in New Jersey during World War II. The collection includes an oral interview with Morgan, news articles, photographs, and letters sent to her from American and British soldiers deployed overseas during World War II. In the letters, servicemen describe their day to day activities while deployed overseas, their locations, views on the Japanese, and opinions about the Atomic Bomb. A letter dated June 2, 1944, written by an American sailor Ernest Feasy was not censored; Feasy describes how he is waiting for D-Day to arrive.

Photocopies of the papers of Edward M. Tidball include letters sent to him from the U.S. Navy Dept., Bureau of Ordnance & Hydrography, Washington, D.C. granting leaves of absence as a clerk in August 1859 & July 1860; a letter accepting his resignation March 6, 1861; letters from S.R. Mallory, Secretary of the Confederate Navy, appointing him as Chief Clerk March 13, 1861 &  April 30, 1862; receipt from Tidball for sale of his property March 15, 1865; the U.S. Presidential Proclamation of Amnesty & Pardon, May 29, 1865; a letter of August 29, 1865 from U.S. President Andrew Johnson granting Tidball full pardon for having taken part in the rebellion against the U.S.; and a photograph of Edward M. Tidball. Also known as MSS 0-245.

This collection relates to Eli Solomon who served as a Pharmacist's Mate 3rd Class and medic in the United States Navy on board the U.S.S. La Grange in the Pacific Theater during World War II. The collection contains an oral history transcript, photographs, letters, and documents.