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The Deardorff family papers consist of 109 letters, 6 V-mail envelopes, 2 Christmas cards, and 1 newsletter. Dale Deardorff wrote most of the letters from his military posts to his parents and sister, Jane, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and to his brother Bob in Virginia. Donald Price wrote 4 letters from Texas and Italy. The collection provides details of the daily lives of soldiers as they trained for and fought in World War II.

The Deardorff family papers consist of 109 letters, 6 V-mail envelopes, 2 Christmas cards, and 1 newsletter. Dale Deardorff wrote most of the letters from his military posts to his parents and sister, Jane, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and to his brother Bob in Virginia. Donald Price wrote 4 letters from Texas and Italy: 1 to Jane and 3 to his Aunt Anna Deardorff, who was also living in Gettysburg. A man with the last name of Geiman wrote 1 postcard to Erle and Ipha Deardorff.

When Dale was in basic training at Camp Croft in South Carolina, he wrote letters to his parents nearly every day. This pattern continued when he was stationed at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland and at an undisclosed location in New England. Once Dale was shipped to England, his correspondence home became more sporadic. His letters primarily provide information about his daily training activities, the weather, family affairs, and the soldiers' recreational activities. He often mentioned spending time at USO centers. Dale described the physical features of the locales where he was stationed in great detail.

Many of Dale's letters contain enclosures. On August 3, 1943, he recounted his first experience on an obstacle course and included a sketch of the course. Dale also attached a photograph of himself with a friend, taken while his friend's family was visiting, to his letter of August 14, 1943. Two newspaper articles regarding obstacle courses, including the one at Camp Croft, are enclosed with Dale's letter to his father on September 12, 1943. On September 15, 1943, Dale wrote a short message to his mother, referring to the USO calendar of events on which he was writing. A small calendar, in which he kept the addresses of his friends from basic training, accompanied Dale's letter of November 26, 1943. The front cover displayed an image of a pin-up girl. Many of his letters are on postcards and illustrated stationery from Camp Croft, the USO, the 31st Infantry Training Battalion, and the U.S. Army.

Don wrote 4 letters from his military post in Laredo, Texas, and from Italy, where he was stationed during the war. The short message from Laredo is on an illustrated postcard and was addressed to Jane. In it, he briefly described the city and the people. His later messages were directed to his Aunt Anna. They provide details about the daily life of a soldier in the Army Air Corps. In his last letter, Don mentioned meeting a few British soldiers and shared details about the time he spent with them.

The final postcard, from "Mr. Geiman," is an invitation for Mr. and Mrs. Deardorff to attend a service flag dedication at a church.

The collection contains 6 empty V-mail envelopes addressed from Dale to his parents and postmarked from England. In addition, the collection includes 2 Christmas cards, both from Dale. One is for Jane and the other is for his parents. Also part of the collection is a newsletter from Dale's battalion at Camp Croft, dated July 10, 1943. It consists of articles related to various events and to people in the battalion. On the last page, Dale wrote a short note to Jane, explaining that she might enjoy reading the stories.

The Pictorial Record of the United States Army Air Forces 90th Bombardment Group consists of two volumes containing 1 manuscript item and approximately 412 photographs documenting the activities of the USAAF 90th Bombardment Group during the New Guinea campaign of War World II.

Materials are housed in plastic sleeves contained in two green-colored 3-ring binders (30 x 33 cm). All photographs are gelatin silver developing-out prints and for the most part measure between 10 x 12 cm and 26 x 20 cm in size. Numerous images bear stamps that state “Passed by U.S. Army Examiners.” Most images do not have captions, though a small number do have typescript captions on their versos.

Volume A:

Volume A contains approximately 186 photographs as well as 1 manuscript item. The volume begins with a one-page typescript document issued ca. 1944 that is addressed to the 400th Bomb Squadron 90th Bomb Group, stating the photographs are intended to be “the Pictorial Record of Our Unit.” The letter is signed by Maj. C. Vernon Ekstrand of the U.S. Army Air Corps. Photographs include a composite portrait of the 90th Bomb Group members, individual and group portraits of 90th Bomb Group members, a group portrait of Japanese military personnel, images of Allied military facilities, Japanese warships being bombed, military aircraft shown both midair as well as on the ground, what appears to be an abandoned Japanese tank, and numerous landscape views. Also present are several images showing aircraft nose art. Of particular interest are various pictures documenting interactions with native Papuan people including individual and group portraits as well as photographs of Papuan settlements and structures (including churches).

Volume B:

Volume B contains approximately 226 photographs. This volume includes a substantial number of pictures of indigenous Papuan individuals, children, and families, including several portraits of nude women (including mothers breastfeeding), as well as images showing traditional Papuan body modifications and tattoos. Of particular note are images that appear to document a Papuan ceremony that showcases elements of traditional Papuan clothing, music, and ritual dance, as well as a photograph of a Papuan trumpet player. Other items of interest include numerous images documenting USO performers (including Bob Hope and Patty Thomas) and a series of aircraft nose art photographs that include several works signed by Cpl. Al G. Merkling. Images of airborne planes and landscape views also feature prominently in this volume.

The Reed-Blackmer family papers consist of the correspondence from an extended family including many settlers in New York, Michigan, and Western America.

This collection consists of the correspondence of the Reed and Blackmer families spanning a period from the mid-19th century to shortly after World War I. The greatest strengths of this collection are the early letters pertaining to education in New York State, and the letters written from family members in the west to their New York State relations. Letters from Michigan in the 1850s, Kansas and Indian Territory in the 1880s and 90s, and the smattering from Illinois and Wisconsin, all give expression to the emigrants' specific experiences.

Many of the early letters are from students and young teachers in New York State, where there were many pockets of culture and education. Lucinda Green, a student at the academy in East Bloomfield, was taking intellectual philosophy in 1849. One of the lectures she described was delivered by photographer John Moran, who "exhibited some pictures with the magic lanterns some of which were very comical" (1850 January 26). Another correspondent, James Bigelow, detailed his professors, particularly the female ones, and activities at Alfred University in Allegany County. James Cole, a medical student, taught school in Ontario County, and Scott Hicks was a student at the Buffalo Medical College. Lizzie, Martha, and Marshall Reed attended the seminary and academy in Canandaigua, and Lizzie described such highlights as the infant drummer's concert: "he drummed beautifully, he was only three years old," and hearing a Jew preach: "His dialect was so different from ours that I could scarcely understand a word he said" (1851 [November] 7, 1852 November 21). Harriet Pennell's cousin Paul taught in Naples, and Harriet herself probably attended the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in Lima, Livingston County.

Of all the letters from the west, the handful from Lynus Tyler to Dudley Reed are the most entertaining. Tyler was an enthusiastic, but less-than-eloquent correspondent from rural Macomb County, where he had a 200 acre farm. He tried to entice Reed to migrate with descriptions of the abundance of women and deer: "Mary Bennet is not married yet but she wants to bea dud come and get her for you cannot doo enny better her post adress is Romeo Macomb Co. Mich" (1851 June 22). He assured Dud he would "keep the girls from a hurting you" when he came out (1851 February 9). After Dudley married "Miss Anna," Tyler, who now had an 80 acre farm in Barry County, toned down his enthusiasms for the local women, but still tried to get his friend to come farm in Michigan by praising the land as well as the game (1852 August 1).

The other Michigan correspondents also urged their relations to join them, and discussed farming, hunting, and family news in great detail. During their early years in Michigan, enthusiasm for their adopted home flowed through every line, but this waned somewhat after 1857, when a barn burned, a child died, and crops failed. Samuel even spent some time in the Jackson jail in the 1870s.

Frank Blackmer's letters written while he worked as a sheep drover in 1880 are unfortunately brief, but his brother John's fairly regular letters over a twelve-year span provide an excellent portrait of a man permanently poised between home and the great unknown. For over a decade, he worked in Kansas and the Indian Territory, never making quite enough money, and never making up his mind whether to head further west, as he dearly wanted to, or to head home to New York, which was also a powerful draw. He wrote repeatedly that he had been "a blamed fool for staying around these parts for the last two years when I might have seen a good deal of country last spring I started out & went several counties west when I might have gone to California just as well..." (1886 November 7). Even as he complained about the hardships of his peripatetic, single life, and berated himself for not moving, he continued to linger in that part of the world.

The letters written back home by New Yorkers visiting western relations are as important as those written by the transplants themselves. In the mid-1880s, Bess Blackmer spent her school holidays visiting her Michigan relatives -- Pennells, Wilmarths, and Clarks -- in Grand Rapids and the surrounding area. By writing to her mother about her trip, she reacquainted her with people whose images had undoubtedly dimmed over the years. In 1891, Harriet took her own first trip west, stopping in Kansas, Illinois, and Michigan to spend time with family she had not seen in decades. She might have thought this first trip would also be her last, but her daughter Hattie was stricken with typhoid in Grand Rapids two years later, and her mother again traveled west, to nurse her and escort her home. These visits reaffirmed the bonds between long distance kin that otherwise might have withered, as letters full of local news grew less and less relevant to those far away.

One of the many fascinating single letters in this collection was written by Orren Short, from Michigan. In the 1850s, there was a fairly commonly held view that handwriting analysis was a means of diagnosing health complaints. After receiving -- and analyzing -- a letter from his sister Anna, Orren wrote to her husband Dudley Reed, and effectively requested that they stop having sex.

I also should judge by her writing that she is very poor. that there is difficulty by irregularity of the female organs. Great care should be taken to avoid overworking, or to great an excess of any indulgence that might irritate the female private organs. But few females ever recover wholly after becoming irregular in their monthly purgations, or by to great a flow, without abstaining wholly from sexual intercourse with their husbands for a length of time. Perhaps my views are not right in regard to Anna's case, if not please pardon me. If correct, please give it a trial (1856 September 7).

Reverting to his true calling, farmer Orren went on to discuss his wheat crop.

Other caches of correspondence include the letters Bess wrote home to her mother from Ohio-Wesleyan (1884-1886), detailing her classes, activities, and clothing needs; Lizzie Reed's sporadic letters to her brother Dudley, exhorting him to strop drinking and save his soul; and the 20th century material. This last portion of the collection consists of letters written to (the somehow related) Newton C. Rogers (A.E.F. Air Corps, France) from family members in New York and air corps friends in France. In patriotic and optimistic tones, these letters discuss news of friends and family "over here" and a bit of bravado and news of the fates of comrades from elsewhere "over there."

The Russell A. Alger family papers contain personal and professional correspondence of Alger, who served as governor of Michigan (1885-1887), United States Secretary of War (1897-1899), and United States Senator (1902-1907). The collection also includes military correspondence related to the Spanish-American War, materials from a distant branch of the Alger family in Ohio and Missouri, and letters related to United States Representative Bruce Alger's experiences in the Army Air Corps during the Second World War.

The Russell A. Alger papers contain personal and professional correspondence of Russell Alger, who served as governor of Michigan (1885-1887), United States secretary of war (1897-1899), and United States senator (1902-1907). The collection also includes military correspondence related to the Spanish-American War, materials from a distant branch of the Alger family, and letters related to United States Representative Bruce Alger's experiences in the Army Air Corps during the Second World War.

The Russell A. Alger materials series contains three subseries: Correspondence, Documents, and Scrapbooks. The Russell A. Alger Correspondence subseries is made up of 5 sub-subseries.

The Russell A. Alger incoming correspondence sub-subseries (1842-1919; bulk 1863-1865 and 1885-1907) contains 1.5 linear feet of letters, documents, and other items received by Russell Alger during his lifetime, with a particular focus on his military service in the Civil War, his political activities as a leading Republican Party member in Michigan, and his service and legacy as secretary of war under William McKinley during the Spanish-American War. The earliest letters in the collection are official correspondence from military leaders about the 5th Michigan Cavalry's service from 1862-1865. Several post-war letters concern Russell Alger's reputation, which opponents called into question during his rise to political prominence.

Items from the 1880s and early 1890s include many written by the era's leading Republicans, such as Mark Hanna, James G. Blaine, and Benjamin Harrison, who wrote a series of approximately 20 letters about Russell Alger's presidential campaigns in 1888 and 1892. Much of the later correspondence relates to Alger's service as secretary of war during the Spanish-American War, with letters from military personnel and political figures including J. Pierpont Morgan, Nelson A. Miles, William R. Shafter, Leonard Wood, Theodore Roosevelt, and William McKinley. Roosevelt wrote several letters to Alger during his own military service and during his presidency, regarding various political appointments. Two letters illustrate Roosevelt's hopes that Alger will support the reinstatement of the annual army-navy football match (August 17, 1897) and canal-building efforts in Panama (June 18, 1906). Much of William McKinley's correspondence (61 items) respects Alger's service as secretary of war, and includes the president's official acceptance of Alger's resignation from the cabinet (July 20, 1899). Much of Alger's incoming post-war correspondence pertains to efforts to secure his reputation following the Spanish-American War and to his published book on the conflict.

The Russell A. Alger outgoing correspondence sub-subseries contains items written by Russell A. Alger, including a small amount of Civil War-era correspondence and a larger number of letters written during his later political career. The bulk of the series, written from 1884-1907, represents Alger's tenure as governor of Michigan (1884-1887) and as secretary of war (1897-1899). Of interest is a letter of April 13, 1898, regarding the sinking of the Maine in Havana Harbor and the declaration of war against Spain. Other topics in Alger's letters include a shipment of reindeer from Norway (March 21, 1899), affairs in Alaska, the Panama Canal, and political endorsements for both local and national positions.

The items regarding the tour of officers & soldiers in the election of 1896, & the endorsement of Russell A. Alger as a member of President McKinley's Cabinet sub-subseries contains correspondence about Russell A. Alger and William McKinley's tour throughout Michigan during the presidential campaign of 1896, and about Alger's other efforts in the campaign. Of note is a letter from Senator Jacob H. Gallinger, who wrote to William McKinley, "I express the hope that you may invite General Alger into your official family. He will make a model Secretary of War, and will be a strong and reliable man in the Cabinet" (January 23, 1896).

The Letters and Telegrams from General Miles sub-subseries contains 564 once-bound pages of chronologically ordered copies of official military correspondence exchanged during the Spanish-American War. Army generals Nelson A. Miles and William R. Shafter are the most prominent correspondents in the subseries. They provided updates on the Cuban theater of the war. The series spans the entire calendar year of 1898.

The Russell A. Alger semi-official letters, semi-official orders, and telegrams sub-subseries contains 28 bound volumes of carbon copies dating from Alger's service as secretary of war. The series contains 20 volumes of semi-official letters (March 9, 1897-July 24, 1899), 2 volumes of semi-official orders (June 4, 1898-August 1, 1899), 5 volumes of telegrams (July 9, 1897-August 1, 1899), and one volume of letters relating to the GAR (October 1, 1889-November 28, 1894).

The collection also includes 9 volumes of typed transcripts, including incoming and outgoing correspondence as well as documents and materials related to Alger's military service.

The Russell A. Alger documents subseries contains four sub-subseries.

The Russell A. Alger Civil War service documents sub-subseries includes original and manuscript copies of documents related to Alger's Civil War service record and actions during the conflict. The subseries also contains two postwar documents. One of two postwar documents is a list of Civil War battles in which Alger participated.

The Testimony of General Alger Before the War Investigation Committee is a typed copy of Russell A. Alger's testimony regarding the hygiene of American soldiers and camps during the summer of 1898, given before the Dodge Commission later that year. The testimony includes manuscript annotations.

The Gervasio Unson proclamation and affidavits sub-subseries contains the original Spanish text and a translated English copy of Provisional Secretary Gervasio Unson's proclamation and accusations regarding the treatment of guerillas in the Philippines and the general conduct of American officials in the islands. Several documents appended to the proclamation lend factual support to the various allegations.

The Correspondence and documents regarding Florida, Puerto Rico, and Cuba sub-subseries is made up of the following items: correspondence describing rail systems in Florida in the early 20th century; a report on the island of Puerto Rico made on March 14, 1898; letters related to military supplies during the Spanish-American War; several letters regarding the publication of Washington the Soldier by General Henry B. Carrington, including a printed copy of the book's preface; the typescript of an interview given by Russell A. Alger to Henry Campbell of the Milwaukee Journal, March 24, 1900; a booklet on regulations for import/export officers; and a printed copy of the Cuban census of 1900.

• Alger's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, April-June 1888
• Alger's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, February-April 1892
• "Presented to General Russell A. Alger by the Citizens of Detroit upon his return to his home. August Second, 1899," July-August 1899
• "Politics: Detroit Newspapers," regarding Alger's campaign for Michigan's vacant Senate seat, August 1902-May 1903
• "Politics: State Papers," pertaining to Alger's campaign for Michigan's vacant Senate seat, August 1902-May 1903
• "In Memoriam Hon. Russell A. Alger," January 1907

The Alger family materials series contains eight subseries.

The Alger family correspondence subseries is divided into the seven sub-subseries: David Bruce Alger correspondence, Bruce Alger correspondence, Clare Fleeman Alger correspondence, Oberlin college correspondence and documents, Richard Edwin ("Eddy") Alger correspondence, Albert W. Alger correspondence, and Miscellaneous Alger family correspondence.

The David Bruce Alger correspondence contains numerous letters from Alger to his parents, Richard Edward Alger and Esther D. Reynolds, about David's time at Oberlin College in the early 20th century; the birth and early childhood of his son, Bruce Reynolds Alger; and about St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1920s, including descriptions of "plucky boy" and celebrated pilot Charles Lindbergh. Incoming correspondence consists of Civil War-era receipts; documents and letters of David Baker Alger; a letter from Russell A. Alger, Jr., to a sibling; a letter from an American soldier serving in France in 1917; several letters from David Bruce Alger's father written in 1943; and a 1975 letter regarding recent physical problems.

David Bruce Alger's Oberlin College correspondence and documents consist of items associated with Oberlin College in the 1910s, including ephemera. Of interest are a program from an Oberlin Glee Club concert (1912), three copies of a pamphlet for the "Eezy Cheezers," and an 1882 promotional thermometer.

The Bruce Alger correspondence consists primarily of Bruce Reynolds Alger's letters to his parents, written during his time in the Army Air Corps in the Second World War. Bruce wrote about his training at Kerry Field, Texas, and in California. In a number of letters from 1945, he described the end of the war as he experienced it in the Pacific theater. The sub-subseries also includes the annotated text of a 1937 chemistry examination from Princeton University, reports of Alger's academic progress at Princeton, and a newspaper article about his football career.

The Clare Fleeman Alger correspondence is made up of correspondence and documents related to David Bruce Alger's wife, Clare Fleeman Alger. In letters to her parents and to other friends and family, Clare described her life as a newlywed and, later, as a new mother. Miscellaneous items in this series include several religious tracts, drafts of poetry and essays, and documents regarding Bruce Reynolds Alger's academic progress at Princeton.

The Richard Edwin ("Eddy") Alger correspondence contains incoming letters, 1885-1921, written by family members to "Eddy" or "Cousin Ed." The group also includes a typed collection of several of his short poems.

In the Albert W. Alger correspondence are a number of letters written to various family members by Albert W. Alger.

The Additional Alger family correspondence, documents, and printed items consists of seven Civil War-era documents by various Alger family members, items related to the St. Louis Writers' Guild, invitations to various weddings and graduation ceremonies, a marriage certificate for Melvin C. Bowman and Mary H. Parcell, and a commemorative stamp from Lundy Island. Of note are two pages of a Civil War-era letter by John H. Houghes, who described a military engagement and the burial of a fallen soldier in the surrounding mountains. The group also contains books, pamphlets, and newspapers. Books include the Student's Reference Work Question Manual and Russell A. Alger's copy of Roswell Smith'sEnglish Grammar on the Productive System . The pamphlets are promotional material for a 1904 World's Fair exhibit, issues of various periodicals belonging to Clare Fleeman Alger (many of which contain her writing), and a copy ofAn Outline History of Richfield Township, 1809-1959 . Other items are newsletters from 1916 and 1921, with contributions by Clare Fleeman Alger; a printed map of the Alger Park neighborhood in Dallas, Texas; a newspaper clipping from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; a program from a piano recital; and scripts for two radio-based language-learning programs (French and German).

The collection includes 40 volumes of Alger family diaries. Six volumes include a book kept by David Bruce Alger and five volumes belonging to Esther Reynolds Alger, written between 1878 and 1881. Among other materials are an early item likely composed by Richard Edwin Alger (1891), a "Note Book for Sunday School Teachers and Workers" probably kept by Esther Reynolds Alger in the late 19th century, and an Esther Reynolds Alger diary from 1900.

The remainder of the series contains material, spanning 1905-1973, that belonged to David Bruce Alger. His early diaries include a "Foxy Grandpa" notebook (1905) and a series of annual daily journals written from 1910 to 1919. Two five-year diaries chronicle 1920-1924 and 1926-1930, followed by single and two-year volumes kept between 1931 and 1937. An uninterrupted series of five-year volumes covers 1938-1975, although his entries taper off around 1973. David Bruce Alger kept his diaries regularly, composing a few lines about the weather and his activities on a near-daily basis.

The Clare Fleeman Alger manuscript submission records are a series of index cards. They are filed alphabetically by poem or essay title. Each record contains the name of a work, the publication to which the manuscript was submitted, and the date. The records pertain to works written in 1917 and from 1931 to 1943. Occasional rejection letters and drafts are interfiled within the subseries.

The Receipts subseries consists of 9 items dating to the 19th century.

In the Documents subseries are manuscript copies of correspondence regarding Alger's Civil War service, made and authorized by the War Department at a later date. The subseries also includes two typed copies of Lieutenant Philip H. Sheridan's "Account of the Battle of Booneville," and two copies of a "Statement of the Military History of Russell A. Alger."

The Photographs subseries contains four photographs. One is a portrait of Russell A. Alger's wife, Annette Henry Alger, labeled "Aunt Nettie."

The Newspapers and clippings subseries contains a small number of short articles, dating primarily in the 1930s. The clippings relate to various members of the Alger family; for example, one item pertains to the death of Russell A. Alger's son, Frederick Moulton Alger, in 1934. The subseries also includes three full size Kansas City, Missouri, newspapers from 1883, 1897, and [1898].

This collection is made up of roughly 100 letters that Master Sergeant Theodore R. Johnston ("Ted") wrote during his service with the United States Army Air Forces' 5th Bombardment Group in Hawaii and in the Pacific theater during World War II. Johnston wrote primarily to his mother and to an acquaintance named Robert Ocha. He discussed aspects of military life before and during the war.

This collection is made up of roughly 100 letters that Master Sergeant Theodore R. Johnston ("Ted") wrote during his service with the United States Army Air Forces' 5th Bombardment Group in Hawaii and in the Pacific theater during World War II. Johnston wrote primarily to his mother and to an acquaintance named Robert Ocha, and discussed aspects of military life both before and during the war.

Johnston's letters, dated between January 27, 1941, and July 16, 1944, cover most of his military service abroad, which included training at Hickam Field in Honolulu, Hawaii, and active duty in the Pacific Theater. Though Johnston primarily corresponded with his mother, he also occasionally sent letters to his siblings and to a friend, Robert Ocha ("Bob") of Detroit, Michigan. Johnston wrote 11 letters from Hickam Field prior to the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, with content on the base, classes, and preparations for possible war. In a letter postmarked December 29, 1941, he described his experiences during the Pearl Harbor attack.

After the formal declaration of war, Johnston was stationed in several areas throughout the southern Pacific, including the Admiralty Islands north of New Guinea. He assured his mother of his good health and safety, but occasionally mentioned participating in battle or witnessing air raids. He also reacted to war news and discussed various aspects of military life, such as his drinking habits, military leave in New Zealand, and his attempts to be reassigned to the United States. Johnston also shared his desire to find a wife.

Johnston wrote several early letters on illustrated stationery, and enclosed some of them in illustrated envelopes. These include a depiction of the 5th Bombardment Group's insignia and a printed map of air routes between Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Johnston drew a small map of a mess hall in his letter of February 6, 1941, and sent his mother a V-mail valentine on January 18, 1943.

The Victor Leroy Rushfeldt, Jr., collection contains an assortment of materials including a diary, photograph album, paper files, and a VHS tape, all of which pertain to U.S. Army Air Corp pilot 1st Lt. Victory Leroy Rushfeldt, Jr.’s service in the 20th Combat Mapping Squadron during World War II.

The Victor Leroy Rushfeldt, Jr., collection contains an assortment of materials including a diary, photograph album, paper files, and a VHS tape, all of which pertain to U.S. Army Air Corp pilot 1st Lt. Victory Leroy Rushfeldt, Jr.’s service in the 20th Combat Mapping Squadron during World War II.

The diary (15 x 8.5 cm) contains entries written by Rushfeldt, Jr., during the year of 1941. In the first entry on New Year’s Day, Rushfeldt, Jr., expressed a desire to join either the United States Army or Navy as a pilot and wondered “where I will be next New Years?” After failing his physical service exam with the Navy due to “crooked teeth,” he decided to first finish securing his private pilot’s license before sending applications to the Army Air Corps on January 31. On March 8 1941, Rushfeldt, Jr., attended a physical exam for flying cadets at Fort Snelling where again he was told that they would not “O.K. my teeth” but was instructed to send a plaster dental cast to Washington, D.C. On March 21, he traveled to Abilene, Texas, before heading for San Diego, California by car on March 25. After hitchhiking to Los Angeles on April 4 he subsequently sought job opportunities in the area while staying at the home of a local couple, including applying for a position at the Lockheed Aircraft Co. and interviewing with the Vega Airplane Co., the latter of whom he felt he could’ve obtained employment with “except for the fact that I will probably be drafted soon.” On April 20, Rushfeldt, Jr., began hitchhiking back to Albert Lea, noting stops in Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa before arriving home April 27. On August 12, he recorded having completed his U.S. Army Air Corps physical exam while on August 15 he took his flight test for “Stage C of the secondary C.P.T.” Towards the back of the diary there are several phone numbers and addresses listed for friends and acquaintances as well as a “Brief History of My Flying Course” listing the duration and type (dual or solo) of Rushfeldt, Jr.’s training flights in Albert Lea from October 8 1940 to February 20 1941. Also of note are numerous entries involving women that Rushfeldt, Jr., was dating.

The photograph album (26 x 34 cm) contains approximately 114 images and is string-bound with brown covers. The album begins with a series of photos showing various young women, American servicemen in uniform, and older adults interacting at what appears to be a wedding reception. Subsequent photographs of interest include a portrait of fellow pilot Jerry Smith holding a large camera; images of various aircraft; portraits of various officers identified by pen inscriptions including “Lt. Connely,” “Lt. Everhardt,” “FO Luther,” “Lt. Raymer,” “Lt. Gireau,” “Capt. Lake,” “Lt. Thye,” “Lt. Riddle,” “FO Stone,” “Charles Enoch,” “Lt. Smith,” “Lt. Glenn Jensen,” and numerous photos (including group portraits) of Victor Rushfeldt, Jr.; images of campsites, barracks, and other buildings possibly in Nadzab, New Guinea; several images documenting the wreck of an F-7B aircraft nicknamed “Idle Curiosity” which crash landed on the Biak Island airstrip while Rushfeldt, Jr., was onboard; and several photographs of indigenous Papuans (including pictures of nude women and women breastfeeding animals). Also present are twenty-one images showing painted illustrations on the sides of various aircraft, many of which were designed Cpl. Al G. Merkling. Numerous illustrations involve nude or scantily clad women posing suggestively. Nicknames of documented planes include “The Wango Wango Bird,” “Photo Queen,” “Cherokee Strip,” “TS Sympathy Remembrance,” “I’ll Be Around,” “American Beauty,” “Hangover Haven,” “Little Joe,” “Round Trip,” “Liberty Belle,” “Patched Up Piece,” “Ready Willing and Able,” “Idle Curiosity,” “Pappy’s Passion,” “Sweet Sixteen,” “St. Louis Blues,” “V…-Sure Pop,” “The Rip Snorter,” “Bourbon Boxcar,” “Ole’ Tomato,” “Mission Belle,” and “Tail Wind.”

The paper files include an envelope of informational materials from the “Reunion Project Office b-24/50th Anniversary” related to the planning of a 1989 reunion event; an overseas document file case containing three souvenir buttons from the first and second 20th Combat Mapping Squadron reunion events in 1982 and 1984, several empty letter envelopes addressed to Rushfeldt, Jr., a register of Rushfeldt, Jr.’s vaccinations and other medical data from December 28 1941 to Jan 27 1945, and an official notice from March 7 1943 declaring that Rushfeldt, Jr., qualified as “Marksman” with a .45 caliber pistol after achieving a score of 106; and a vertical file containing numerous materials related to 20th Combat Mapping Squadron reunions, events, newsletters, and other documents, including a draft of “A Pictorial History of the 20th Combat Mapping Squadron, 6th Photo Group that Served so Honorably in the Southwest Pacific Area During WW II” consisting of photocopies of images donated by former squadron members and compiled by Maj. Lawrence E. Thibault, Sr.

The VHS tape purportedly contains footage of the "Idle Curiosity" crash on the Biak Island airstrip. Rushfeldt, Jr., was aboard this aircraft at the time of the crash.