Research by Subject: Military: SDSU Special Collections

SDSU Special Collections

These entries describe historical primary source collections available for research in Special Collections at the SDSU Library. Special Collections houses unique archival and manuscript collections, rare books and manuscripts, and graphic/ephemera collections.

Civil War

ASA SACKMAN DIARIES (SDSU digital) This collection consists of seven manuscript diaries written while Asa Sackman, a private age 22, was serving in the 44th Regiment of the Union Army during the American Civil War.
F. T. Moore Papers, 1861-1906 The collection features a handwritten memoir detailing Moore's and the 2nd Regiment's involvement in the Civil War, as well as Confederate forms, manuscripts, correspondence, and newspaper clippings.
United States Civil War Collection, 1811-1987 The United States Civil War Collection contains manuscript and printed materials dating from the Civil War era, as well as later items about the war. These materials include correspondence, speeches, pamphlets, and newspapers. The bulk of the material dates from 1861 to 1865, and both Northern and Southern perspectives are represented. Highlights of the collection include an 1823 bill of sale for a slave and an 1864 diary. Also included is information pertaining to several persons of interest such as Henry Clay, Victor Hugo, Benson Lossing, James Monroe, and Henry Jackson Van Dyke.

World War I

Breo Freeman World War I Photograph Collection, 1914-1919 The Breo Freeman World War I Photograph Collection visually documents soldier life, foreign dignitaries involved in peace negotiations, and the destruction caused by the First World War. Many of the photographs include captions, agency stamps, or hand-written notes on the back. Photographs with agency stamps appeared in various publications during and after the war. The collection is divided into four series: Foreign Dignitaries...; Camp Life and Battlefields; Battleships, Submarines, and Zeppelins; and British and German Landmarks.
Olin Graves World War I Artifact Collection, 1914-1920 The Olin Graves World War I Artifact Collection consists of miscellaneous artifacts including but not limited to belt buckles, buttons, pins, matchboxes, cigarette lighters, and ammunition from the German, British, American, and French armed forces during World War I.
Georgia C. Amsden Papers, 1917-1974 The collection primarily documents Amsden's work with the American Red Cross and the Federal Department of Vocational Education in France between 1918 and 1919, as well as her later work at the San Diego State College of Business teaching stenography and shorthand. The collection includes correspondence, newspaper clippings, resumes, work reports, speeches, photographs, a scrapbook, and various artifacts including patches, pins, buttons and a bracelet, and souvenir and guide books. Highlights include detailed correspondence about Amsden's experience in war-torn France. Of particular interest is a letter detailing Armistice Day in Paris

World War II

World War II San Diego State College Servicemen's Correspondence Collection, 1941-1946 This collection consists of ten boxes of correspondence received from servicemen, servicewomen, and their families during the Second World War. The collection contains letters sent to Lauren Post for his information in compiling the San Diego State College Service Men's News Letter, which later changed its name to The Aztec News Letter. Many of the letters contain red pencil markings, indicating that a specific line or paragraph was to be included in the newsletter. By the end of the War, The Aztec News Letter was circulated to over 3,000 service and homefront readers.
Haakon Maurice Chevalier Diary, 1945-1946 Haakon Chevalier's diary is comprised of two hand-written notebooks kept during his time working as a French-English translator at the Nuremberg war crimes trials in 1945 and 1946, and a partial transcript of the notebooks' English-language portions. The diaries begin on the first day of the trial, November 20, 1945, and end on March 17, 1946. His account includes vivid descriptions of trial participants (including facial expressions while testifying, unusual physical features, and personality traits), and personal interpretations of testimony. He mentions challenges to the court's competence, pleas entered by the defendants, Nazi treatment of Jewish peoples in occupied territories, the Anschluss, and myriad other topics, including individual cases against Goering, Ribbentrop, Streicher, and others. Descriptions of day and weekend trips Chevalier took to Paris and Prague during the course of the trial are also included, as well as doodles, notes he wrote to himself, addresses, and scores from card games.
Kramer J. Rohfleisch Papers, 1935-1945 This collection consists of research materials used by Kramer Rohfleisch in his work on the history of the Army Air Forces in World War II. The collection includes articles, pamphlets, clippings, training and field handbooks and manuals, ephemera, miscellaneous materials, and declassified commanders' reports, memos, and letters. Also included are Rohfleisch's personal training notes and curriculum from the Army Officer Candidate School.
Hitler Memorabilia Collection, 1932-1977 This small collection consists of ephemera related to Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler. There are several periodicals and magazine clippings present, including two issues of Die Neue Weltbuhne and sections from the Munschner Illustrierte Presse from 1932-1933. Ephemera include: a poster entitled "Flugel Englands," produced in Germany and meant to mock the British Air Force; an invitation to Hitler's 49th birthday party; and about twenty postcards from Nazi Germany, mostly photographic portraits of Hitler that were previously the property of Dr. K. Haushoffer.
Military Order of the World Wars, San Diego Chapter Records, 1949-2002 The collection documents the numerous activities and achievements of the La Jolla-San Diego Chapter, the San Diego Chapter, and the Ladies of the Ribbon. It includes administrative records, meeting minutes, activity and project records, photographs, publications, awards, handbooks, and other materials documenting the San Diego Chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars' history. The collection includes seven series: Administration, Minutes and Related Records, Activities and Projects, Photographs, Printed Materials, Publications, and Additional Materials.
World War II German Manuscript Collection, 1937-1945 These documents are most likely (though this has not been confirmed) copies of those given to the US Military after the War, and eventually issued in published form. There are some hand-written materials, and all maps are hand-drawn.
Herman F. Fritzenkotter Papers, 1941-1990 The Herman F. Fritzenkotter Papers primarily document Fritzenkotter’s military service during the Second World War. The collection includes scrapbooks composed of photographs, news clippings, and letters; service medals, including the Bronze Star; photographs of several of Fritzenkotter’s sculptures, and several military artifacts. As a soldier in the 8th Infantry Regiment, Fritzenkotter took part in numerous battles in both France and Germany, including the Battle of the Bulge. His scrapbooks capture camp life as well as the devastation of war. Of particular interest are candid photographs of soldiers before and after battle; as well as graphic photographs of concentration camps during liberation. These scrapbooks also contain photographs from Fritzenkotter's later visits to various battle sites decades after the end of the war. The collection also includes several German military artifacts, including a ceremonial dagger as well as a German map and leather map case. Although the collection is arranged alphabetically, the artifacts are not in any particular order.
Leonard Fierro Papers, 1927-1995 The Leonard Fierro Papers (1927-1995) document Fierro's work as an educator, activist and advocate for bilingual education. The majority of the material dates from the early 1960's through 1970's, with very sparse documentation of the 1950's. These files illustrate Fierro's development of bilingual education teaching materials for San Diego County. His papers include reports, correspondence, teaching supplements, newspaper clippings, and audio cassettes. Highlights include materials relating to the efforts of the National Origin Desegregation Assistance Center (NODAC or Lau Center) in the Institute for Cultural Pluralism and personal correspondence during his military service through WWII. The collection consists of four series: Professional Files (1964-1992), Personal Files (1935-1995), News Clippings (1950's-1995), and Book Project Files (1927-1995).

Other Wars or Conflicts

Radical Ephemera and Underground Publications Collection, 1966-2013 This collection covers social issues of the late 1960s to mid 1970s in the United States, especially as manifested on the San Diego State University (College) campus and in San Diego County. These issues include women's rights, civil rights, Marxism, Socialism, Vietnam war protests and other issues related to military conflicts, prisoners' rights, and counter-culture or alternative lifestyles.
Gwartney American Legion and Anti-Communist Collection, 1937-1981 This collection documents Barsh E. (Bill) Gwartney's service as a member of several American Legion Posts in Southern California, including correspondence and notes from his tenure as chairman of the Americanism Committee for the L.A. City Council Post in the early 1960s. Dating primarily from the 1960s, the collection consists of correspondence, notes, resolutions, unpublished reports, newsletters, memos, programs, newspaper clippings, and a scrapbook about the Southern California School of Anti-Communism in 1961, produced with the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade. There is one oversize folder of posters from World War II. The collection consists of four series: American Legion Activities, Reports and Catalogs, Newsletters, Personal, Newsclippings, and Oversize.

Unprocessed Collections Forthcoming

Vietnam Veterans Oral History Tapes and Transcriptions (.88 linear ft.)
War Posters and Newspapers (1.34 linear ft.)
Smith Vietnam War and Indochinese Resettlement Collection (28.75 linear ft.) [ MS-0240 LA4410, Special Collections and University Archives ]

Military

Library Hours

e-Resource Problem Report