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

This collection consists of 18 letters that Elaine Fisher (later Hanson) received from members of the United States Army during World War II. Fisher's correspondents, who included her future husband, Frank Hanson (9 letters), discussed their experiences while training at camps within the United States and while on duty in North Africa, Hawaii, and Europe.

This collection consists of 18 letters that Elaine Fisher (later Hanson) of Muscatine, Iowa, and North Powder, Oregon, received from members of the United States Army during World War II. Her correspondents discussed their experiences while training at camps within the United States and while on duty in North Africa, Hawaii, and Europe.

Technician Fifth Grade Frank Rado Hanson, a member of the 817th Tank Destroyer Battalion, Company B, and Elaine Fisher's future husband, wrote 3 letters while in training at Camp Phillips, Kansas, in September and October 1943, and 6 letters while serving in France, Belgium, and Germany between October 1944 and April 1945. He discussed his love for Elaine, mentioned his participation in recent military actions, and commented on the military's drinking culture.

Private Robert Armstrong, whom Fisher had known in Muscatine, wrote 3 letters while undergoing medical training at Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma, between July and September 1942. As well as writing about his life on base, Armstrong detailed his drinking habits and his experiences with local women. After being promoted to corporal, Armstrong wrote 3 additional letters about his service with the Medical Detachment of the 435th Signal Battalion in Italy and North Africa, describing the scenery and Roman ruins.

Fisher also received 1 letter from Private William Hendrix of the 371st Bomb Squadron, then in training at Ephrata Air Base in Washington (June 13, 1942), and 2 letters from Corporal Kenneth H. Maach of the 210th Field Artillery Battalion, who was stationed at Camp Young, California, and in Hawaii. Both soldiers discussed military life; Maach included descriptions of the Californian wildlife and a Hawaiian luau, and enclosed a photograph of a hula dancer letter in his letter of October 16, 1943.

Horace Mann, Jr. (1844-1868) was a noted American botanist and the eldest son of the well-known educational reformer, Horace Mann (1796-1859). His papers include two journals, a letter, and a draft of an article related to his botanical research in the Hawaiian Islands in 1864, a partial draft of a book review, clippings, nine maps, and 33 photographs.

The Horace Mann, Jr., papers include two journals, March 2-3, 1864 and May 5-July 28, 1864, a letter to Asa Gray, August 30, 1864, a draft of an article related to his botanical research in the Hawaiian Islands in 1864, an excerpt from a draft of a book review, and clippings related to the eruption of Mauna Loa in 1868. A manuscript copy of portions of a work by Jules Remy, translated by William T. Brigham and published in 1868, is also included. The collection includes 33 photographs of the Mojave Desert and Hawaii, ca. 1863-1864, and eight manuscript maps of Hawaii and one of California, drawn by Horace Mann, Jr., ca. 1864-1865.

His first journal describes two days he spent in California before embarking for Hawaii, during which time he called on several people, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, did some sight-seeing, and collected specimens. The second journal describes his first three months in Hawaii and contains daily entries from his arrival on May 5 through July 28, 1864. He wrote about the people he met, travels around the islands, and plant collecting activities. In a ten-page letter to his mentor, Asa Gray, on August 30, 1864, Mann described a five-week trip to the big island of Hawaii during the month of August. His letter includes a lengthy description of his explorations and the physical features of the island. He also wrote of his intention to send the specimens he had so far collected to the Boston Society of Natural History. He then intended to sail in the missionary brig Morning Star in September on a six-month cruise to the Caroline, Marshall, and Kingsmill Islands to collect specimens, although it is unclear whether or not he ever took this trip. A 31-page draft of an article titled "The Hawaiian Islands" chronicles Mann’s travels and the many sights he saw. The collection also contains a partial draft of a book review by Mann of Field, Forest, and Garden Botany, which was published in The American Naturalist, vol. 2, 1869. In addition, there are five newspaper clippings from the New York Tribune, May 26-June 12, 1868, regarding the eruption of Mauna Loa in April 1868.

A manuscript copy of portions of Jules Remy's Contributions of a Venerable Savage to the Ancient History of the Hawaiian Islands, translated by William T. Brigham, is also included in the collection. Two hundred copies of this translation were privately printed in 1868, and it was reprinted in the appendix of Charles Nordhoff''s Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands, 1875.

Thirty-three albumen photographs, ca. 1863-1864, depict the landscapes and vegetation of the Mojave Desert, soldiers and Paiute Indians at Fort Mojave, a volcano in Hawaii, and two Hawaiian plants photographed in a studio. Hand-drawn maps, ca. 1864, include one map of Sonoma, Napa, and Yolo Counties, California, and eight maps of the Hawaiian islands, particularly noting geographical features. The maps of Hawaii correspond to Mann's travels among the islands and his observations as recorded in his draft article, "The Hawaiian Islands."

The Horace Mann, Jr., papers were formerly part of the Hawaiian Islands collection at the Clements Library.