Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Caswell and Soltwedel Family Collection
- Dates:
- 1912-1933
- 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 .
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Caswell and Soltwedel family collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
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
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Prepared:
- © 2011
- Date Encoded:
- Machine readable finding aid encoded by Katrina Denman in May 2011.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, please go to following web site.
- Terms of access:
-
In order to quote from, publish, or reproduce any of the manuscripts or visual materials, researchers must obtain formal permission from the office of the Library Director. In most instances, permission is given by the Huntington as owner of the physical property rights only, and researchers must also obtain permission from the holder of the literary rights. In some instances, the Huntington owns the literary rights, as well as the physical property rights. Researchers may contact the appropriate curator for further information.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Caswell and Soltwedel family collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
- Location of this collection:
-
1151 Oxford RoadSan Marino, CA 91108, US
- Contact:
- (626) 405-2191