Collections

This collection consists of a small bound diary and ten photographs. The diary was kept by Private J. G. Northrup, mainly while he was deployed in France in Company B, 303^rd Engineers, 78^th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, from June 1918 through May 1919. Company B supported troops during major engagements in the Saint-Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives. Diary entries are brief, mentioning routine duties and events, as well as military activities Northrup participated in or witnessed, such as movement around France, caring for horses, retrieving supplies, fixing roads and building a bridge while under fire, seeing engineers and soldiers go "over the top", air raids, air battles, artillery fire, gas attacks, gas sickness, casualties, and destruction. The diary appears to have been written sometime after the actual events. For example, the entry for October 6, 1918, includes the following: "In going for water I met with an accident with the horse which I though[t] would put him out for good but in a few weeks he became OK." The photographs are of unidentified people and places, but presumably most are of Private Northrup.

Diary, 1951, of W. E. Winstead, an employee of Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. He seems to be a member of the Army Corps of Engineers, and works on the paving of the base runway, takes soil samples, and works on issues of water drainage, among others. Also included is information on the people with which Winstead works as well as general events happening on the base.