The Howard F. Barnum World War I photograph album contains 216 items relating to Barnum's service in the American Expeditionary Forces. The majority of the collection is comprised of personal photo-postcards of his time overseas and postcards from his travels with the Army of Occupation in France, Germany, and Luxembourg. Also included are photographs, letters, a print, and ephemera.
The album begins with 92 personal photo-postcards, many of which have a short handwritten caption on the front. The majority were taken while Barnum was stationed near the Rhine River, in Mayen, Germany. They show daily life, the ammunition dump, M.O.R.S. details, studio portraits, monuments and castles along the Rhine, and a Rhine River boat tour. One image is of the men he served with, "Billet #6," and lists the name and hometown of each man. There are a few images included from his training at Camp Hancock in Augusta, Georgia.
Seemingly unrelated to Barnum’s service, are five photos likely taken in the United States of construction on a neighborhood street. Following, are an image of captured American soldiers, one of a simulated gas attack, and 15 smaller images similar in content to the photo-postcards. Most of these smaller images have handwritten captions on the back.
This album includes a total of 78 picture postcards include a complete collection of 20 black and white views from the painting Panthéon de la Guerre. Other locations depicted include Paris, Southampton, Koblenz, and Camp Dodge and Rock Island in the United States
The last portion of the album contains ephemera from Barnum's military service, with the exception of one letter from August 6, 1905 written by Barnum to his mother while on vacation with his father and brother. Other items include the board game Trench Checkers, a Third Army Carnival program, a Mother’s Day pamphlet, an honorable discharge chevron, a USS Santa Paula billet card, and a "Souvenir Roster of the New York Masonic Club of the Army of Occupation."
Howard F. Barnum was born August 21, 1891 to Fred M. Barnum and Florence Barnum in Manlius New York. He spent his childhood and early adulthood at the family home on 206 Pleasant Street, Manlius. Howard attended the University of Michigan and joined the fraternity Phi Gamma Delta, Alpha Phi Chapter of Ann Arbor in 1913. He studied literature but never graduated. After returning home to Manlius, he worked as a shipping clerk at S. Cheney & Son Iron Foundry until he enlisted in the U.S. Army June 5, 1917.
Barnum reported to Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois December 15, 1917. He began ordnance training at Camp Hancock in Augusta, Georgia, from February 5, 1918 to August 18, 1918. He departed for England from Hoboken on the City of Marseilles on September 5, 1918. He served with the Third Army, M.O.R.S. (mobile ordnance repair shop), Fourth Corps Artillery Park, and was appointed Sergeant of Ordnance on November 12, 1918. Soon after, the Third Army was mobilized and made its way to Germany, passing through Luxembourg, and became known as the Army of Occupation. Barnum arrived at Mayen, Germany on December 16, 1918. From then until the end of the peace negotiations in June 1919, the Third Army would hold its position on the Rhine River. On June 16, 1919 he boarded the USS Santa Paula in Saint-Nazaire, France and arrived in New York June 28, 1919. Barnum received an honorable discharge on July 3, 1919.
After his discharge, he returned home to Manlius and his previous job at S. Cheney & Son. During the 1920s, he moved to Los Angeles, California where he worked as a storekeeper and purchasing clerk. On April 16, 1928 he married Grace P. Beverly. Barnum died on October 9, 1936 in San Luis Obispo, California.
