Posted by Jim Dolbow in UncategorizedYou can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Over at the The Coast Guard Compass, Coast Guard Deputy Historian Scott Price and Collections Manager Jeffrey Bowdoin have an outstanding post about the ir collection of private papers, diaries, artifacts, uniforms, photos, etc., from Coast Guard veterans (or donated by their families).
One of our charters is to collect, preserve and promote Coast Guard history and we do that through collecting all kinds of material, including official records, manuals, newspaper articles, historical artifacts and official photographs. But I think one of our most important activities is to gather material for what we refer to as our “Special Collections” consisting of the private papers, diaries, artifacts, uniforms, photos, etc., from Coast Guard veterans (or donated by their families). These are things that aren’t considered to be permanent historical material that the National Archives would accept but are nonetheless incredibly important.
To read their post click here.
Persons interested in donating items to the Coast Guard Historian’s office should contact Jeffrey Bowdoin via email: jeffrey.l.Bowdoin [at} uscg.mil
4 Responses to “The Coast Guard Historian’s Special Collections”
Leave a Reply
Recent Posts
Subscribe
Excellent..thanks. I’ve been long fretting what to do with the collection I have and who to contact tht might give a hoot about any of it. A lot of photographs taken during aboard ship conducting WWII anti-sub and convoy activities..
I’ve contacted them via the link you provided.
October 7th, 2009 at 1:01 pmBill, Which ship?
October 7th, 2009 at 4:49 pmChuck;
Primarily the cutters ‘Dione’ and ‘Taney’ and the DE ‘Moseley’ (and another DE whose name does not immediately come to mind)..my grandfather was skipper of all of them..the ‘Dione’ during the spring of ’42, conducting ASW operations along the Atlantic Coast.
I ended up with all of his ‘stuff’, including his later correspondence with former German U-boat commanders, Eric Topp in particular, that had survived the war and participated in the (their term) ‘Happy Days’ Atlantic u-boat campaign. The two exchanged ships logs and compared notes to some considerable degree of detail, trying to figure out who shot at who when and where. Very interesting material..and some probably very rare photographs to go along with.
Some of the more interesting, to me anyway, ‘things’ that I have are hard to describe..but I will never forget my grandfather’s vivid descriptions of each of them (sidebar: I believe that, with the probable exception of crew mates at ship reunions, I was the only person to whom my gradfather would talk to in depth about his war experience).
First, for some context, it should be known that our ASW efforts off the coast in ’42 were abysmally deficient..and thus most of the ‘Dione’s’ activities involved transiting as quickly as she could manage to the scene of a torpedoed, and sinking or sunk, merchant ship. Upon arrival, the crew of ‘Dione’ would commence pulling the surviving merchant crew, and bodies of those that did not, from the water. An odd occurence repeated itself many times over; in many instances, as they were abandoning their sinking ship, some crew members, reflexively perhaps, grabbed ‘something’ from the vessel to ‘salvage’ and take with them in to the cold Atlantic waters. Invariably, upon being rescued by the ‘Dione’, these bits and pieces would be presented to my grandfather as a token of the survivor’s appreciation.
A rectangular brass oil lamp the lit a binnacle..a ceramic Maersk Line Far East Service ash tray..an old brass barometer..a brass polaris (no base)..a heavy porcelain coffe cup from the mess..etc. To the day he died, my grandfather could recall where the ship was sunk from whence each and every item came.
October 8th, 2009 at 7:43 amHi, I want to say many thanks for an appealing site about a subject I have had an interest in for a long time now. I have been looking in and reading the comments avidly so just wanted to express my thanks for supplying me with some very good reading material. I look forward to more, and taking a more active part in the discussions here, whilst picking up some knowledge too!!
April 13th, 2010 at 5:14 am