Armed Conflicts & the Military in the Special Collections Research Center

The Cold War Collection includes predominantly published materials and ephemera. The collection is currently being processed and new items will be added on an ongoing basis. For this reason, the indicated date range (1950-ongoing) is only approximate at this point.

The Racial and Ethnic Ephemera Collection includes a variety of material in various formats. The collection is currently being processed and new items will be added on an ongoing basis. Includes a pamphlet entitled, "Here's Proof of the Red Pro-Negro Plot Against the South & USA," National Platform of the Workers (Communist) Party (1928). Also includes Sluota (Lithuanian magazine), 1987-1990, "a rare collection of Soviet Occupied Lithuania era magazines that take you into the humor and satire mentality of the state sanctioned social critics who had very limited access to the Western press at that time, and took great risks being controversial in a police state." Also includes Cards, 1955, that depict the life of Karl Marx and the history of Marxism in Germany.

This small collection, 1871-1955, primarily in Russian, documents the military career of Russian Major General Anatole Kalichevsky (1870-1937) and the travel diaries of his son, Vladimir Kalichevsky (1895-1958), a petroleum engineer who spent most of his career in Texas and northern New Jersey. Examples of items relating to Anatole are his service record, military orders, his diplomatic passport, and his "New York Times" obituary. Vladimir, a graduate of the California Institute of Technology, wrote several books on petroleum engineering, three of which are in the collection. The diaries cover the years 1902-1955 and refer to tourist attractions throughout the United States and Europe as well as academic lectures attended while traveling. Also included are family photographs and Russian orders and badges awarded to Anatole. All documents are in Russian unless otherwise indicated.

Papers, 1918-1968, of William Munford Tuck, Democrat, member of the Virginia House of Delegates, Virginia State Senate, lieutenant-governor, governor, and congressman. Tuck's law practice files and his correspondence, 1950-1953, are arranged alphabetically. His congressional file is arranged alphabetically and the legislation files are arranged by session and then alphabetically by topic. However, the Fifth District correspondence is arranged by counties and cities. His Congressional speeches are in Group XV. The election correspondence is arranged by city, county and out-of-state. The personal correspondence of the gubernatorial term is arranged chronologically. The political correspondence of the gubernatorial term is in two files. The first file is arranged alphabetically by subject (and chronologically within). The second is arranged alphabetically by correspondent and this files contains well-known individuals.

These papers are housed off-site. Please see staff for assistance. Papers, 1921-1967, of A. Willis Robertson, U. S. Congressman and Senator from Virginia. Chiefly his senatorial office files, 1946-1966. Robertson was a conservative Democrat, serving at the same time as Harry F. Byrd, Sr. Subjects in the collection include national defense, agriculture, taxation, banking, government employees, the Moral Rearmament movement, anti-Communism, Vietnam, segregation, wildlife conservation, national parks, the humane slaughter of animals and the humane treatment of research animals. The papers were kept in the same order as they were in Robertson's office files. The legislative files consist of correspondence arranged by Congressional session. The miscellaneous subject files are arranged by year as are the invitations. The addressee copies which are Robertson's copies of letters sent to correspondents are indexed to the legislative files. They are arranged alphabetically by groups of years.

This collection consists of approximately 1400 total items including approximately 550 letters from 1944 to 1955 between John Patrick Rembert and his wife Sarafan, as well as other correspondence regarding homelife and the military and World War II. Also included in this collection are photo albums and loose photographs, including many portraits of John Patrick Rembert and Sarafan Rembert, relatives of the Remberts, friends and family and the Rembert's travels. There are several 8x10 official Naval photographs of the Remberts and Naval parties and dinners, as well as eight 8x10 photographs of the 1968 Washington D.C. "Negroe Integration Riots." The collection also includes many pieces of ephemera, including many certificates including a 1921 Masonic certificate of the 32nd Degree, cards, and drawings, as well as a collection of John Patrick Rembert's Naval buttons. Items range in date from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s (bulk 1910s-1950s).

This collection contains programs for the Annual Memorial Service at the College of William and Mary to honor those that have died during the preceding year. In 1978 the service became known as the Sunset Ceremony held in October during Homecoming. Specific ceremonies that have been conducted in the past include "Roster of the Dead" and placing the wreath on Colonel Benjamin S. Ewell's Grave held in June, Fallen French Soldiers in 1981, Constance M.K. Applebee in 1982, former College President John Stewart Bryan in 1944, former College President Thomas Roderick Dew in 1939, John F. Kennedy in 1963, Goronwy Owen in 1957, and the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Three typewritten volmes of Homer B. Bassett on his trip through the USSR in May to September of 1930. Includes two volumes entitled "Report on Railways of USSR," which contain suggestions for improvements to the Soviet railway system and description of their current state. The second volume contains the typescripts of the daily notes of the inspectors, written while they were at each site that was inspected. The third volume is Homer Bassett's personal diary from the trip, which contains his iternerary, observations on people that he saw, description of his visit to the Kremlin, and other observations relating to the state of the USSR.

Diary, 1947-1948 of Betty Movern detailing her extended tour of post war Europe. She describes the trips she made with her husband and adult son with hopes of selling the manuscript for eventual publication. She records visiting Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, and England. She describes a visit to Hitler's country home and meeting a German man who swam from Russian occupied East Germany to West Germany in order to obtain food for his family. Movern included many photos, postcards, pictures clipped from books, and a newspaper clipping.

This collection contains the diaries, correspondence, and biographic material of Maude M. (Mathas) Presslor (1898-1972) of Montezuma, Indiana from 1913-1970. Earlier papers and material relate to Presslor's life as a teenager and young adult during the World War I period. Letters from friends serving in France and a baby book detailing the early years of her three children, Betty Jean (Presslor) Montgomery, Frank Richard Presslor, and David Lowell Presslor, date from this period. Later papers and material from the World War II period include letters from her sons serving in the armed services as well as diary entries and newspaper clippings concerning major events of the conflict, such as the first use of atomic weapons. Post-war papers and material focus more on her family life and the activities of her children and grandchildren.