The Leonard Tinne Berthon Collection
Special Collections, Rare and Distinctive Collections
Leonard Tinné Berthon (c. 1876-1917) is remembered for his military service for Britain during World War One. He served as lieutenant, then later captain, in the Dardanelles, arriving there early in July 1915 with the 9th Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
Access the full collection here.
In one of his many letters home to friends and family, Berthon details the atmosphere at of an unidentified location, most likely Gallipoli.
Access the full digitized letter here.
"Good People." 27 July [year and location not noted]. Signed "Your affect[ionate] brother, Leonard T. Berthon."
Berthon describes his position as:
"perched about 400 feet above the sea, over which I look across to a picturesque mountainous island about ten miles distant."
Berthon writes:
"the evening hate has just begun and several of our howitzer shells have just gone towering over to the enemy's trenches and before long they will return the complement, in a reasonable time. I really do not think there is much of interest to tell you. The whole place stinks of the dead in various stages of decomposition - they lie between our lines and the enemy's and cannot be got at by either side - and the flies are abominable." He notes that he was "ill for two days and in Hospital with a minor heatstroke and during my absence these special men were ordered to take up a position I consider impossible, with the result they did no good and one of them was killed. I am taking every care I can of them now and hope for better things."
He departed the region with his Battalion in January 1916, transferring to Mesopotamia at Skeikh Saad Camp, along on the river Tigris. He took part in the actions to recapture Kut from December, 1916, onwards, and died in action on the 25th January, 1917 (Stuart Leggatt, 2015).
Francis Wolle Collection (MS 66)
Special Collections, Rare and Distinctive Collections
Francis Wolle was hired to teach English at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he started in 1913. Wolle served overseas in the army during World War I, advancing to the rank of captain.
In 1917 he enlisted in the Army to serve in WWI, where he advanced to the rank of captain. He served in the infantry and did intelligence work. Highlights of his collection include intelligence maps, Signal Corps photographs (seen here), and letters home, in which Wolle shares his impressions of the state of the town of Verdun during the months after the Armistice. The photographs were shot in February of 1919.
Francis Wolle Collection (MS 66)
Special Collections, Rare and Distinctive Collections
Joan of Arc Saved France
Library of Congress | Rare and Distinctive Collections
One of the Thousand Y.M.C.A. Girls in France
Library of Congress | Rare and Distinctive Collections
We Need You
Library of Congress | Special Collections, Rare and Distinctive Collections
Thomas Fletcher, Dog Tags (MS 262)
Special Collections, Rare and Distinctive Collections
Thomas L. Fletcher served during World War I, as part of the Cleveland, Ohio's Lakeside Unit of the U.S. Army Medical Corps. The Lakeside Unit, World War I, was the first contingent of the American expeditionary forces to be sent to Europe. It was based in a British army hospital near Rouen, France (Base Hospital 4) and provided medical care for Allied troops between the spring of 1917 to the winter of 1918-1919. Fletcher's dog tags read: Sgt. T. Fletcher M.D. U.S.A., with the number 6439 on the reverse.
Alice F. Milne, Nursing Collection, MS 340. Donate by Heather and Karen Southwick
Special Collections, Rare and Distinctive Collections
Alice Milne (b. 1890) was a practicing nurse in Scotland, England, Canada, and the United States from 1912-1924. During World War I, she served in the British Army’s Territorial Force Nursing Service, assigned to a hospital in Scotland (Vlasity, 2020).
Alice F. Milne, Nursing Collection, MS 340. Donate by Heather and Karen Southwick
Special Collections, Rare and Distinctive Collections
In her notebooks, Milne collected quotes and sketches from her acquaintances, in this case wounded soldiers. The number and nature of entries suggest she was held in high regard. In the illustration above, Alice is referred to as "Our V.A.D", or voluntary aid detachment (Vlasity, 2020).
For the sketches and writings of the soldiers under Alice Milne's care, see below:
Sketchbook (1917) from the Alice F. Milne Collection may be accessed here.
Sketchbook (1918) from the Alice F. Milne Collection may be accessed here.
Sketchbook (1919) from the Alice F. Milne Collection may be accessed here.
Winestine Collection of Emergency Paper Money and Miscellaneous Bank Notes (MS 264)
Austrian and German emergency paper money was printed after WWI by individual towns for use in their own marketplaces. Notes often have expiration dates to encourage spending in order to boost the local economy. Notes from the Banque de France likewise date from the immediate years after war.
