Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Caswell, George Emery, 1893-1958
- Abstract:
- Collection of letters and photographs sent from George Emery Caswell to his fiancee Lillian Soltwedel during his army training at Camp Logan, Texas, and while he was serving in Europe during World War I. Also includes letters to Lillian's sister Myrtle Soltwedel from her beaux John Deathe and Rene Sayers, a variety of family photographs and photograph albums, and some ephemera.
- Extent:
- 535 items
- Language:
- The records are in English .
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection consists of letters sent by George Emery Caswell to Lillian Soltwedel and from John Deathe and Rene Sayers to Myrtle Soltwedel, as well as extensive military and family photographs covering the early 20th century through the 1920s. George's letters were sent during his military training (primarily at Camp Logan, Texas) and during his service in France with the 108th Engineers. Most of the letters describe army life, his travels throughout the eastern United States, and his experiences in Europe. Although he does not elaborate on specific battles, Caswell does give a first-hand account of the experiences and sentiments of American soldiers, including their views on the reasons for war, the lack of information on the progression of the war, and an account of an German-American prisoner-of-war from the German army.
The letters from Deathe and Sayers primarily describe their daily activities and family life.
The collection includes six series: 1) Correspondence, George E. Caswell to Lillian Soltwedel (1917-1919), 2) Correspondence, John B. Deathe to Myrtle Soltwedel (1919-1921), 3) Correspondence, Rene Joseph Sayers to Myrtle Soltwedel (1918-1928), 4) Photograph albums (c.1912-1929), 5) Loose photographs (c.1912-1933), and 6) Miscellaneous and ephemera. Each series is arranged chronologically.
A detailed, folder level container list is available through the Manuscripts Department.
- Biographical / historical:
-
George Emery Caswell (1893-1958) was born in Whitewater, Wisconsin, to Carroll Lewis Caswell and Ida Louise Roswell. He served in Company "C" of the 1st Wisconsin Infanty National Guard (1910-1912) and enlisted as a Sergeant 1st Class in the U.S. Army in Chicago on July 3, 1917. Caswell was made a Second Lieutenant of Engineering in the U.S. Army in 1919, a Second Lieutenant of Engineering in the Officers' Reserve Corps in 1919, and a First Lieutenant of Engineering in the Officers' Reserve Corps in 1922. Caswell served in World War I with the 108th U.S. Engineers and participated in the Somme Offensive (August 1918) and the Meuse Argonne Offensive (September 1918). Following the war he was honorably discharged with a commission as Second Lieutenant. He married Lillian Soltwedel (1895-1990, born in Whiting, Indiana) on November 22, 1919, in Chicago. Caswell's army records list his occupation as a photographer, and he documented his time in the military with extensive photographic records.
Lillian Soltwedel Caswell's sister Myrtle Soltwedel was born in Indiana on October 16, 1891 (possibly 1902?). She became engaged to John Deathe in 1919, although he died in 1922. Myrtle never married and died in Pasadena, California, in December 1974.
John B. Deathe (the family changed the spelling from Death shortly before John's birth) was born in Lake, Indiana, in 1896. His father George McKinley Deathe (1841-1911) owned a hardware store in Lowell, Indiana, and his mother was George's second wife Emma Buchanan (1859-1935). John Deathe worked as a hardware manager at the Lynch Brothers Department Store in Lowell from 1920 until his sudden death in 1922.
Rene Joseph Sayers was a beau of Myrtle Soltwedel until his marriage to Mabel L. Keough in 1920.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Mrs. Patricia Marks, October 2010 and January 2011.
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
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1151 Oxford RoadSan Marino, CA 91108, US
- Contact:
- (626) 405-2191