Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

This collection contains 9 letters that Frank S. Buchanan wrote to his fiancée, Josephine Aurandt, during his stateside service in the United States Marine Corps during the First World War. He discussed camp life near Boston, Massachusetts, and his efforts to receive a discharge. Also present are 8 photographs.

This collection contains 9 letters that Frank S. Buchanan wrote to his fiancée, Josephine Aurandt, during his stateside service in the United States Marine Corps during the First World War. Also present are 8 photographs.

Buchanan discussed camp life, including frequent drills and barracks inspections, and his experiences in Boston, Massachusetts, and Parris Island, South Carolina. Boston's proximity to the ocean pleased him, though he often got lost in the city's "quaint" and "narrow" streets (June 9, 1918). Though he remained in the United States throughout the war, Buchanan knew others who served in Europe. He wrote Josephine about a button supposedly taken off of a dead German soldier (July 13, 1918) and told her that he could easily have been among the many friends killed or wounded in France (October 30, 1918).

The collection also contains 8 photographs: 5 show a United States soldier in uniform, 2 are group photographs of military personnel, and 1 depicts a bulldog referred to as "Our Mascot."

The V-Mail Process collection is made up of 8 photographs and accompanying typed explanations, created in April 1944, which demonstrate the process of creating V-mail for the United States Marine Corps 2nd Division. The photographs are individually numbered and the typed explanations occasionally include commentary on the careers of pictured marines.

The V-Mail Process collection is made up of 8 photographs and accompanying typed explanations, created in April 1944, which demonstrate the process of creating V-mail for the United States Marine Corps 2nd Division.

Eight 8"x10" black-and-white photographs illustrate steps in the V-mail creation process, from initial composition to delivery. Eight 1-page, typed documents explain each step and occasionally identify the members of the Marine Corps 2nd Division depicted in the images, variously noting names, ranks, hometowns, and service histories. The explanatory text also provides numerical figures associated with the Marine Corps mail service, including an estimate of total pieces handled daily (image 2D-37), the number of letters on each roll of film and number photographed per hour (image 2D-39), the rate at which an operator prints and cuts images (image 2D-40), and the number of V-mail letters that could fit in one mailbag (image 2D-43). Sergeant J. L. Burns took the first photograph, and Sergeant Andy Knight took the remaining 7; each image is also attributed to Warrant Officer J.F. Leopold, Photo Officer, 2nd Marine Division.