Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Member of United States Army Co. H, 339th Infantry and veteran of the Allied Intervention in Northern Russia at the close of World War I. Includes digitized photographs depicting the daily lives and responsibilities of soldiers in Onega and Parog, Russia as well as scenes from Russian villages. Also contains digitized versions of Cain's draft registration cards from the First and Second World Wars.

The Elmer I. Cain papers provide rich photographic evidence of the daily lives of United States soldiers engaged in the American Expedition to Northern Russia. The collection is divided into two series, Photographs and Draft Registration.

Soldier from LaCrosse, Wisc., captain of Co. M, 339th U.S. Infantry who served in the Allied intervention in Russia, 1918-1920, the "Polar Bear Expedition." Collection includes miscellaneous citations, orders, and correspondence relating to his activities with the Polar Bear regiment; also photographs.

The papers contain primarily certificates and personal documents. The photographs include pictures of American and foreign soldiers, Russian people and scenes, and naval ships; also pictures of the 1929 memorial services for bodies returned from Russia, Polar Bear Association reunions, and personal photographs. Printed maps have been removed from the collection and cataloged separately.