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

This collection is made up of correspondence, military records, photographs, newsletters, scrapbooks, and other items pertaining to the military career of Charles H. Foster, who served in the United States Navy from 1898-1934.

The Charles H. Foster collection consists of correspondence, military records, photographs, newsletters, scrapbooks, and other items pertaining to the military career of Charles H. Foster, who served in the United States Navy from 1898-1934.

The collection's correspondence (144 items) primarily relates to Foster's naval service after 1902. Letters, memorandums, orders, and reports concern his ship assignments and work at the Naval Gun Factory (Washington Navy Yard) during World War I. One group of letters from the early 1920s relates to the acquisition of dependent's pay for Foster's mother. A series of World War II-era documents respect Foster's fitness for active duty. After World War II, he received letters from military acquaintances and veterans of the Spanish-American War.

Charles H. Foster's 1918-1919 diary concerns his travel on the Huron between the United States and France. Notes, newspaper clippings, and a telegram laid into the volume regard deaths, the military, and historical inquiries.

The papers include 4 of Charles H. Foster's scrapbooks, which contain materials related to the USTS Alliance's 1897-1898 training mission; naval ships, personnel, and theatrical and musical programs and performances; the Mexican Revolution and Mexican politics in the mid-1910s; and naval equipment, camps, and weapons tests.

Sixty-three photographs depict U.S. Navy sailors and vessels. One group of pictures show scenes from the Huron's voyage between France and the United States during World War I. The collection also features photographic postcards sent by Charles H. Foster and others from Mexico, the Philippines, Japan, Germany, and Borneo.

Financial records, legal documents, and service records primarily pertain to Charles H. Foster, with a focus on his time on the USS West Virginia in the 1920s and his mother's financial dependency. Documents, blueprints, photographs, and other items relate to devices patented by Charles H. Foster and others. Two service ribbons appear in the collection, mounted onto a wallet printed with "United States Battle Fleet, Sydney, 1925," which also contains a travel pass and membership card for Charles H. Foster.

The collection includes 429 typescripts about early American history, the Civil War, South Carolina Confederate soldiers, the Spanish-American War, aviation, and the US Navy. Rosters of American Navy ships and personnel include information on Union vessels during the Civil War; casualties from the 1898 USS Maine explosion; USTS Alliance naval apprentices in 1898; USS West Virginia officers in 1926; and the names and addresses of members in several naval veterans' associations.

A "Personal Log" by Royal Emerson Foster relates to his service on the SSAC Bedford in early 1919, with descriptions and illustrations of naval equipment, ship construction, signaling, personnel, and other subjects. The navy publication Rules to Prevent Collisions of Vessels also appears in the Log.

US Naval Ex. Apprentices Association materials include copies of Trade Winds, the association's newsletter, from 1939-1964. The newsletters are accompanied by a list of Alliance apprentices in 1898. A copy of Rocks and Shoals, a publication for former crewmen of the USS Memphis, is also present. Other printed works include military publications about equipment and procedures, a handbook on medicine, the Mariner's Pocketbook, A History of Guantanamo Bay, newspaper clippings, a souvenir book from the US Naval Training Station in Newport, Rhode Island, a death announcement, and a map of Arlington National Cemetery.

Notes, reports, and a bound volume concern the history of the Foster, Yates, and Lindstrom families.

This volume is a history of the USS Mount Vernon's service as a troop transport ship during World War I, written by United States Navy Lieutenant Charles K. Cummings, who served on the ship during the war. Cummings's narrative relates daily incidents as the Mount Vernon carried troops between New York City and Brest, France, during and after the war. Cummings noted the names of prominent passengers and included several diagrams and drawings depicting naval formations and the Mount Vernon.

This volume is a 137-page typed history of the USS Mount Vernon's service as a troop transport ship during World War I, written by United States Navy Lieutenant Charles K. Cummings, the ship's communications officer. Cummings presented this copy, entitled Voyages in the USS Mount Vernon, 1917-1919, to James Madison Doyle, the ship's gunnery officer, in December 1921. The title page has an intricate drawing of the ship by Harleston Parker.

The narrative is structured as a diary and opens with 4 pages of introductory material with information on the Mount Vernon's history prior to its first voyage as a United States Navy transport vessel. The daily entries cover the period between October 11, 1917, and April 24, 1919, during which time the ship made 12 round-trip voyages between New York City and Brest, France, carrying members of the American Expeditionary Forces. Many of the entries record the day's weather, compiled from the author's personal diaries and the ship's official logs; lists of military units being ferried across the Atlantic Ocean; and notable incidents or the names of distinguished passengers. The Mount Vernon traveled as part of a heavily guarded convoy and Cummings routinely noted the camouflage and deceptive sailing patterns employed to guard against German submarine and torpedo attacks, as well as news of other ships throughout the convoys. On February 11, 1918, he provided a list of distress calls the ship received on its most recent voyage (pp. 51-52). In addition to military officials and diplomats, the ship also carried a 13-year-old stowaway mascot of the 132nd Infantry Regiment (p. 89), a group of African American soldiers (pp. 101-102), and several wounded soldiers, including two Red Cross nurses suffering from shell shock (p. 117). On September 5, 1918, the Mount Vernon was struck by a torpedo, which killed 35 members of the ship's crew (pp. 126-129). Cummings frequently mentioned his activities while in port at Brest, Southampton, and Boston, which included social calls and spending leave time with his family.

• USS Mount Vernon (title page)
• "Collision Between Agamemnon and Von Steuben" (pp. 26-27)
• "Torpedoing of Finland" (pp. 26-27)
• "Torpedoing of Antilles" (pp. 26-27)
• "Intensive Lookout Station on Mount Vernon" (pp. 40-41)
• "Types of Camouflage on U.S. Destroyers" (pp. 60-61)
• "Manoeuvre for Practice with Submarine Target" (pp. 96-97)
• "Sinking of British S.S. Instructor, July 15, 1918 (pp. 96-97)
• "Torpedoing of U.S.S. Mount Vernon, September 5, 1918 (pp. 126-127)
• "Mount Vernon Showing Camouflage on Port Side" (pp. 128-129)
• "Diagrams of Mount Vernon Showing Effect of Torpedo Explosion (pp. 128-129)