World War I series, 1917-2002 (bulk 1918)
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Arrangement: alphabetical by surname.

Materials housed in the Special Collections Division of the Main Library, Nashville Public Library.

Disclaimer on Veterans History Project Collection Materials - (Historical Accuracy and Reliability in Personal Accounts): The Library of Congress and the Nashville Public Library does not verify the accuracy of the accounts described herein by participants in the Veterans History Project. Individual stories are voluntarily submitted to the Veterans History Project and are placed in the Library's permanent collections as received. These histories are the personal recollections and perspectives of participating individuals and are not intended as a substitute for an official record of the federal government or of military service.

Individuals documented in this series (as of August 2003) include: Alice Mikel Duffield; Hobart Duffield; Herbert Holloway Henry; Ralph Culbert Jones; Hunter McDonald Sr.; Charles O. Pettie; Alva Louis Reid; Hugh Solomon Sr.; George O'Bryan Trabue; Percy Young.

In library use only. Available by appointment.

Scope and content: Materials include letters, photographs, and one oral interview with transcript. These materials include some photocopies. The World War I Series of the Veterans History Project Collection includes materials relating to Nashville residents who served in the military during this conflict. Some materials acquired early in the project came from several areas outside of Davidson County, including Carthage, Kelso, and White Pine.

The largest holdings within the World War I portion of the Veterans History Project Collection (as of August 2003) include letters written to George O'Bryan Trabue during his service stateside and in France with Battery C, 142nd Field Artillery. He came from a prominent Nashville family, and letters from his parents, William D. and Lucinda Trabue, his siblings, and his uncle Charles, give details about life in Nashville during the war. During this time, William D. Trabue served as vice president of Phillips and Buttorff Manufacturing Company. His letters speak occasionally of matters at the foundry, but other letters from the family also address such subjects as: Red Cross drives, automobiles, Nashville businesses and industries, the winter of 1917-1918, fuel shortages, bond drives, and many other matters. Letters from friends Ralph Culbert Jones, of Battery E, 114th Field Artillery, and Percy Young, who served in the 318th Field Artillery stateside, and transferred to the 258th Aero Squadron, later deployed in France, give a soldier's perspective of training, officers, camp routine, recreational activities, and life near the front in France.

Also noteworthy is a diary kept by Hunter McDonald, Sr. during his service stateside and in France with the 135th Aero Squadron of the Army Signal Corps; letters written by Hugh Solomon Sr. to his family near Kelso, Tenn. while he was serving in the 165th Infantry, 42nd Division in France; and an oral interview with Alice Mikel Duffield, who served as an Army nurse at Camp Pike, Ark. near Little Rock, Ark. At 105 years of age, she provides detailed recollections about growing up in the coal mining district near Fort Smith, Ark. in the early 1900s, as well as her experiences in nurses training, and her service in the Army. Although never serving overseas, she cared for injured returning soldiers and ill servicemen during the flu epidemic of 1918, including some African-American troops.

Cite as: [name of individual, folder no.], World War I Series, Veterans History Project Collection, Special Collections Division, Nashville Public Library.

Some items may be protected by copyright or donor restriction.

Negatives,Staff approval required for access.

Numerous donors contributed to this project.

Vast majority in English. Some individual items may include portions in German or French.

Finding aid available in repository and online;,folder level control.,https://assets.library.nashville.org/documents/finding-aids/Special_Collections_Division_Finding_Aid_VHP_Main_WWI.pdf.

Finding aids: Interview summaries;,item level control.,https://assets.library.nashville.org/documents/finding-aids/Special_Collections_Division_Finding_Aid_VHP_Summaries.pdf.

Finding aid: List of persons by special interest categories;,https://assets.library.nashville.org/documents/finding-aids/Special_Collections_Division_Finding_Aid_VHP_Special_Interest.pdf.

Finding aid: Collection at a glance;,https://assets.library.nashville.org/documents/finding-aids/Special_Collections_Division_Finding_Aid_VHP_At_A_Glance.pdf.

Finding aids: List of unprocessed additions.

Collected by the Nashville Room beginning January 2002.

Forms part of the Veterans History Project collection.

No further accruals are expected.