Latin America and the Caribbean: Resources available in the Special Collections Research Center

Correspondence, clippings, photographs, and papers of Charles Mills Sheldon (1866-1928), British illustrator and war correspondent. Letters were written primarily to his wife, Grace, of London, and often contain detailed descriptions of his experiences abroad. Some of the topics discussed in his correspondence include the Sudan (1896), Cuba (1898), the Spanish-American War, Egypt during the opening of the Aswan Dam (1902), the Durbar in India (1903), and Spain during the royal wedding and attempted assassination of Edward VII of Great Britain (1906). Included is a biography of Sheldon and typescripts of his letters.

Papers including correspondence concerning Millington's experiences as directing engineer of the Anglo-Mexican Mining Association, as professor at College of William and Mary where he lived in the Wythe House, as professor at University of Mississippi, and at Memphis Medical College. Includes diaries covering 1832, 1835, and 1861-1867. Includes letters of his family members. Includes Blankenship family land records and letters concerning the Spanish-American War.

Correspondence, diaries, and papers of Thompson Hoadley Landon (1830-1917) and his son Thomas Durland Landon (1865-1934). Thomas Durland Landon was born on May 18, 1865 in Belvidere, New Jersey and became involved in the New Jersey National Guard as a young adult. From 1881 until his death in 1934, Thomas Landon served as the commandant of the Bordentown Military Institute. In 1888 Thomas Landon was the 2nd Lieutenant of Company A of the Sixth Regiment of Infantry of the New Jersey National Guard. Thomas married Margaret "Minnie" Adams Reese (1859-1929) on July 6, 1892 in Bordentown. In 1893, Landon became the Captain of Company A of the Sixth Regiment of Infantry of the New Jersey National Guard. During the Spanish-American War, Landon served as Major of the 3rd New Jersey Infantry. During World War I he was commissioned as a Colonel in the U.S. Army, and was given command of the 114th Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to Brigadier General of the New Jersey National Guard in 1933.

Minute book, 1902-1918, of the Colonel Kuert Command No. 122 of the Spanish War Veterns, located in Tiffin, Ohio. Primarily concerns the election of officers, the chapter's celebration of Decoration Day, attendance at state and national encampments, selection of committee members, membership recruitment, member's dismissla, payment of dues, and expenditures on membership ribbons, lapel buttons, and flags for graves, among other items.

Handwritten diary by a Hospital Corps man detailing repeated trips to Cuba between December 5, 1898 and May, 1899. He was chosen from a Hospital Corps School in Washington, D.C. (Established in 1898, often called "Old Naval Hospital") to be among twelve sent on a humanitarian mission to Cuba. He sails from New York to Cuba on the Bay State Hospital Ship, which is delayed after an explosion within fifty feet of the diarist. The Bay State Hospital Ship was a project of the Massachusetts Volunteer Association which was organized in 1898 to send medical and humanitarian supplies to benefit U.S. troops overseas and particularly troops and local people in Cuba and Jamaica. While in Cuba, he sees the sunken ships Merrimac and Reina Mercedes in the harbor. Various units and military personnel are mentioned including the 8th Calvary aboard the Minnewaska, the 6th Ohio and the 3rd Engineering Corps.

Diaries, 1902-1910, of Mary L. Gilbert of Watertown, New York. Gilbert lives with her widowed mother, and describes events such as spending time on a yacht, spending winters in rented homes and cottages in Florida, and meetings with dignitaries, including members of the Cuban armed forces.

Papers 1818-1955, of William Willoughby, economist, government official, director for the Institute of Research. The papers of William F. Willoughby, mostly concerning his service as treasurer and secretary of Puerto Rico and as deputy legal adviser to President Yuan Shih-Kai of China during the period when Yuan made an unsuccessful attempt to restore the monarchy to China by having himself crowned emperor. The collection includes personal correspondence of Willougby with his twin brother Westel Woodbury Willoughby, sister Alice Estelle Willoughby, copies of official memorandum prepared for the Chinese and published writings. There are also genealogical materials concerning the Willoughby and Woodbury families.

This collection contains 68 buttons, 2 belt buckles, and 2 cockades taken from Spanish prisoners of war or from sunken ships off of Cuba. It also contains a commemorative medal from the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893.

Small leather covered diary, written in pencil by C.A. Detrick between December 17, 1899 and February 2, 1900 while in the Philippines during the time of the Philippine Insurrection. Detrick was a member of Company D, 28th U.S. Infantry. Detrick writes about the countryside, the natives, the marches and the camps. End of diary includes addresses, expense accounts and equipment inventory.

Diary, 1899, of Bert Ward, an enlisted soldier in the Spanish-American War which concerns his trip from Plattsburg, N. Y. to San Francisco, California and the Philippines. The volume describes skirmishes and the civilization of the Filipino people.

Papers, 1786-1932, collected by Francis Burton Harrison. Chiefly typescripts of letters, 1786-1840, of members of the Harrison family, includes notes for The Harrisons of Skimino. This group of typescripts, letters, and notes was collected by Francis Burton Harrison for the publication of The Harrisons of Skimino edited by his brother Fairfax Harrison. Francis Burton Harrison served in the Spanish-American War and in Congress from 1907-1913. Harrison was governor-general of the Philippines 1913-1921. He lived in Scotland from 1921-1934. He served as advisor to the governors of the Philippines.

This collection contains the family papers of members of the Grigsby and Galt Families. Mary Blair Grigsby married William W. Galt in 1881. The collection contains papers of various members of the Grigsby family, particulary Hugh Blair Grigsby who was a historian and Chancellor of The College of William and Mary and his son, Hugh Carrington Grigsby who lived his entire life at the family farm, Edgehill, in Charlotte County, Virginia. The collection also contains the personal papers and some navy material of William W. Galt, U. S. Navy Paymaster and author of a book on the Battle of Manila Bay. Extensive correspondence to and from all the members of his family is included.

Photocopy of diary, 1899-1911, of Anthony Morris Leafdale, which concerns his service in the U. S. Army Signal Corps (including travel from Fort Walla Walla, Washington via San Francisco to Hawaii, the Philippines and Japan and return to the United States), difficulties in finding employment, work in Denver, Colorado, and marriage and life on a farm in Nebraska. Includes poetry.

Photo album, 1880-1942 of Colonel Fred Charles Doyle, circa 1885-1955. The album contains both formal photographs, like studio portraits and military group pictures, and snapshots of family and friends and of places where the Doyle family traveled and worked. Those places include: Texas, Massachusetts, Arizona, Oklahoma and the Philippines.

This collection details the history of the Offley Family from 1826 to 1916 through correspondences, diaries, photographs and personal effects. Its creators include multiple generations of Offleys and their associates. The papers provide insight into the daily life of the era as well as major geopolitical events such as the Greek War of Independence, the Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American War, the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, and World War I. Many of the Offleys served in the United States armed forces. The collection also includes photographs of individuals unrelated to, but, of the same era as, the Offley Family.

This collection contains the papers and biographic material, 1899-1946, of the Reed family of Floyd County, Virgina and Warren, Ohio. Included are personal letters and photographs, as well as records relating to service of family members in WWI and WWII. The correspondence series consists largely of personal letters written by Asa Daniel Reed to his future wife, Clarence Elizabeth Mangus (later Clarence Elizabeth Reed), during Reed's service in the U.S. Army. Reed's assignments included posts in the Philippines during the U.S. occupation thereof, in Texas along the border with Mexico, and in Germany and France during World War I. Interwar correspondences focus more on Clarence Reed's domestic life in Warren, Ohio. During the World War II period, Asa and Clarence Reed received correspondences from their son, Eugene Mangus Reed, serving in the U.S. Army.