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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 collection is made up of 158 letters, 8 speeches and writings, 36 documents, 25 ephemeral items and currency, 5 pamphlets or booklets, 43 newspaper clippings, 26 lithographs, and 99 photographs by or related to Lieutenant Colonel Demas Lindley Sears. The bulk of the collection pertains to his service as a mid-level intelligence officer in the U.S. Army's 37th Infantry Division during World War II. A small portion of the collection reflects his service in the 8th Ohio Infantry Regiment during the Punitive Expedition of 1916 and in the First U.S. Cavalry during World War I.

This collection is made up of 158 letters, 8 speeches and writings, 36 documents, 25 ephemeral items and currency, 5 pamphlets or booklets, 43 newspaper clippings, 26 lithographs, and 99 photographs by or related to Lieutenant Colonel Demas Lindley Sears. The bulk of the collection pertains to his service as a mid-level intelligence officer in the U.S. Army's 37th Infantry Division during World War II. A small portion of the collection reflects his service in the 8th Ohio Infantry Regiment during the Punitive Expedition of 1916 and in the First U.S. Cavalry during World War I.

The Correspondence begins with a telegram and four letters respecting the death of Demas and Lura Sears's child in August 1918. The remainder of the correspondence is made up of original and contemporary carbon copies of letters by Demas L. Sears between 1942 and 1946. The bulk of one hundred and forty three letters are personal letters from Demas "Pop" to his wife Lura "Mother" and daughter Frances "Baby," or from Demas to others, between January 1944 and December 1945.

Lt. Col. Sears was an engaging writer and he described everyday experiences with thoughtful attention to detail. Within the restrictive confines of military censorship, he was unable to share what he called "real news," but wrote about his living quarters, food, plans for his return home, requests for letters and photographs, and generally about life in the South Pacific. He sent his wife souvenirs, such as a Japanese rifle and an entrenching shovel. His descriptions of combat and war atrocities are vivid (see, for example, his letters from late February 1945, as the 37th fought to capture Manila).

Between April 2 and July 4, 1943, Demas Sears wrote a 46-page letter to his wife in a diary-like form. He kept the letter as an uncensored account of his time on the Fiji Islands and Guadalcanal (before departing for New Georgia). It is accompanied by a typescript of the letter, titled "From the Fiji Islands to Guadalcanal with the 37th Division."

Between March 8 and September 14, 1945, Demas also composed 10 diary-like letters, producing multiple carbon copies for Lura to distribute to particular family members. In the margins, Demas identified (by hand) March 8 and September 14 as the first and last of these "family bulletins," and provided his wife with lists of intended recipients.

A series of Writings and Speeches include one war date essay and eight postwar speeches. From the Solomon Islands after November 14, 1942, he reflected thoughtfully on the war as a "young man's war" (he was able to identify a total of 22 men out of 14,000 who had served in World War I) and the importance of maintaining U.S. military strength in peacetime. His speeches relate to his war experiences and his audiences included a Congregational Church Men's Club, a Memorial Day gathering at Bucyrus, an American Legion group, and others.

The collection's 36 Documents, 1917-1946 (bulk 1942-1946), include certificates and orders related to Demas Sears's commendations and awards; training materials; intelligence (G-2 Reports, copies of a captured and translated Japanese Sergeant's diary, summaries of the interrogations of General Tomoyuki Yamashita, a Japanese map of the Pacific, etc.), and other similar papers.

Seventy-one Printed Items include ephemera and currency, booklets and pamphlets, and newspaper clippings. Among the ephemeral items are three unique World War I-era holiday menus; a menu for a 1945 banquet in honor of Maj. Gen. Robert S. Beightler; admission and transport tickets; Japanese currency; two World War I-era record of service posters, and a manuscript note in Japanese. The two posters are located in the Graphics Division, and more information can be found in the Separated Materials section. The five booklets and pamphlets are each listed in the box and folder listing below. Forty-three newspaper clippings pertain to Lt. Col. Sears's World War II service.

The printed items also include 26 lithographs of pencil sketches by Edward "E. J." Dollriehs of the headquarters battery of the 37th Division. His illustrations include buildings, airfields, military headquarters, portraits, and the wreckage of Japanese planes. Dollriehs identified each with captions; most of the images are from the Luzon provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, Pangasinan, and Tarlac.

The Sears papers contain 99 Photographs. Fifteen images from the period of Sears's service in World War I include two panoramic photographs of the First Cavalry Regiment, one panoramic photograph of the headquarters staff of the 37th Division, and 12 snapshots and portraits. The collection also contains 84 photographs from Sears's World War II service in the Pacific, including individual and group portraits, snapshots depicting camp life; a series of aerial snapshots taken from a C-47 on a leaflet-dropping mission over the Philippine Islands; five photographs of a Kava Ceremony in the Fiji Islands; and a selection of confidential Signal Corps photographs.