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This collection is made up of letters that Eulalia R. Nutter of Minneapolis, Minnesota, received from United States Navy sailors during and just after World War I. The writers discussed aspects of navy life in United States ports and in Brest, France.

This collection is made up of around 150 letters that Eulalia R. Nutter of Minneapolis, Minnesota, received from United States Navy sailors during and just after World War I.

Andrew C. Dickinson ("Dick"), Nutter's most frequent correspondent, wrote about his military experiences between October 1917 and September 1920. Dickinson, a native of Texas, was unacquainted with Nutter before beginning their correspondence; he attended radio training at Great Lakes, Illinois, and at Harvard University, where he occasionally shared his opinions of Boston and the East Coast. In March 1918, Dickinson joined the crew of the USS Bridgeport; he spent most of the war along the Atlantic Coast and in Brest, France. After the war, Dickinson commented on relationships between American sailors and French women in Brest and sometimes discussed political events, such as Bolshevik activity in France. In other letters, Dickinson defended his and other sailors' use of slang (March 24, 1919) and described strained relations between American and British sailors in Brest (April 23, 1919).

Nutter's other correspondents included Mel McLaughlin, who was stationed at the Charleston Navy Yard; Ed W. Fleming, who was stationed in Brooklyn, New York, and Norfolk, Virginia; Neiland K. Barrett, who was stationed at Langley Field, Virginia; and Ray D. Lilley, who was stationed on the Texan, Shoshone, and Great Northern in 1919. The men discussed aspects of naval life and commented on the cities in which they were stationed. Lilley's letters often concern his transatlantic voyages on the Great Northern, a troop transport ship that ferried soldiers home from France. The collection also contains 2 small notebooks in which Nutter recorded soldiers' and sailors' addresses and incomplete lists of letters she wrote and received.

This collection consists of 17 letters that Franklin Warren Van Wert ("Warren") wrote to his mother, Edna Van Wert, while serving in the United States Navy during World War II, as well as 1 letter he wrote to his brother Albert and 1 additional letter from Leonard W. Dooren to Edna Van Wert, his future mother-in-law.

This collection consists of 19 World War II-era letters related to the Van Wert family of New York City. Leonard W. Dooren wrote a letter to Edna J. Van Wert, his future mother-in-law, while stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in March 1940. He mentioned Charles Van Wert's reassignment to the USS McCormick and wrote about Dolly Van Wert, Edna's daughter and his future wife. Warren Van Wert wrote the remaining letters to Edna Van Wert, his mother (17 items), and Albert Van Wert, his brother (1 item), during his service on the USS Breckinridge. Before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he discussed the possibility of getting a furlough. After the United States entered the war, he shared news of his daily life in the navy and mentioned his attempts to send an allotment to his mother. He commented on an encounter with a married woman, sailors' fondness for "spicey" magazines and comic books, and the Breckinridge's response to a distress call for the transport of a sick sailor. Van Wert also shared family news, particularly related to his siblings and their young children.

This collection is made up of ten energetic and at times impolite letters from sailor George S. Payne to his cousin Fayette W. Pierce, 1838-1845, and two miscellaneous incoming letters to Pierce. Payne wrote six letters from areas around New York City, both on land and shipboard (the brig Erie, bark Chancellor, and schooner Laurel), describing his leisure activities, attendance at church services, preparations for sailing, and a robbery of items on his boat. On arriving back at New York from a voyage to Buenos Aries, Argentina, in June 1842, he vividly described political assassinations and executions under General Juan Manuel de Rosas. The same year, he wrote a diatribe against the Thanksgiving holiday, focusing on the inhumane treatment of farm animals. Payne suffered from rheumatism and spent part of 1845 receiving treatment near Tampa, Florida, and recovering in St. Louis, Missouri. One of the remaining letters to Pierce, from J. F. Payne in 1857, includes a vivid and poetic description of travel to Florence, Nebraska.

Please see the box and folder listing below for details about the contents of each letter.

The Jennie Nutter correspondence contains letters that Nutter's former students wrote to her about their service in the United States Army, Army Air Forces, Navy, and Marine Corps during World War II.

This collection contains 141 letters that Jennie L. Nutter, a teacher at the Good Will-Hinckley school in Fairfield, Maine, received from former students about their service in the United States Armed Forces from March 1940-October 1945. Nutter's correspondents, who were members of the United States Army, United States Army Air Forces, United States Marine Corps, and United States Navy, served at bases throughout the United States, including many in California, as well as in the European and Pacific Theaters. They described their training, coursework, and military life, such as a navy drill that tested sailors' response time for a simulated disaster (May 14, 1940). Many expressed gratitude for Nutter's instruction in subjects such as Latin and French; one letter is written in Latin (March 30, 1940). Others discussed their reading material, reminisced about their time at the school, inquired about Nutter's mother ("Ma" or "Ma Smith"), and referred to their correspondence with fellow Good Will alumni; one letter is addressed directly to "Ma." A few writers mention travels to locations such as Hawaii, Italy, and England, and offer opinions on the war. The collection includes manuscript and typed letters, V-mail letters, a greeting card, and a postcard. Clarence Perry enclosed programs from an Easter service at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Sacramento, California, in his letters of April 6, 1944, and April 10, 1944.

The Renwick family correspondence is made up of the World War II-era letters of John and Violet Renwick of Durhamville, New York, and their sons George and John. The Renwick brothers, who both served in the United States Navy, discussed aspects of their service and their parents and friends shared news from home.

The Renwick family correspondence is made up 90 World War II-era letters of John and Violet Renwick of Durhamville, New York, and their sons George and John, both of whom served in the United States Navy. The collection has three main groups of letters, which overlap chronologically: letters from John E. Renwick to John and Violet Renwick; letters from John and Violet Renwick to George Renwick; and letters to George Renwick from friends in New York.

John Renwick's letters to his parents primarily regard his initial induction into the navy in Albany, New York, his time at the US Naval Training Station in Newport, Rhode Island, and his experiences working in a store at Naval Air Station Pensacola in 1942 and 1943. He wrote infrequently throughout the remainder of the war and into the postwar years, when he described his life in Brookhaven, Mississippi.

John and Violet Renwick's letters to their son George provide news of family and friends in New York. Violet Renwick often commented on her health problems, urged George to remain safe, and expressed her concerns during George's hospitalization for "stomach trouble" in the summer of 1944. George's other correspondents, who were primarily women, wrote about life in Oneida and Rome, New York, during the war. Both the Renwick family and George's friends mentioned news of other military personnel. A letter from "Eleanor" on January 4, 1944, includes a pencil sketch of a sailor, identified as "you," dreaming on a small tropical island, with a ship in the background.

The Winchester family papers contain correspondence and one document related to the family of John and Nancy Winchester of Groton, Connecticut. Their son William, a sailor during and after the War of 1812, wrote most of the letters.

The Winchester family papers contain correspondence and one document related to the family of John and Nancy Winchester of Groton, Connecticut. Their son William, a sailor during and after the War of 1812, wrote most of the letters. In his brief letters to his mother Nancy, William reported on his health and recent assignments and voyages, and requested news of his brothers and of life at home. He composed several of the letters while serving in the Navy during the War of 1812. In one letter, he reported having heard the news of the death of one of his brothers, and implored his mother to tell him which brother had died (May 11, 1814); most likely Elias. Other letters in the collection include correspondence from William's brothers, John and Alden, who, like William, gave their mother brief updates on their own travels at sea and of their employment, In her letter of February 18, 1814, Nancy sent news about the ill health of Elias. Also of interest within the collection is the official discharge form relieving the senior John Winchester from duty as a drummer in the Second Regiment of Artillery and Engineers, signed by Secretary of War James McHenry (November 30, 1799).