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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Conditions Governing Access
  • Immediate Source of Acquisition
  • Arrangement
  • Biographical / Historical
  • Preferred Citation
  • Content Description
  • Conditions Governing Use

  • Contributing Institution: Center for American War Letters Archives
    Title: Malcolm F. Farmer Second World War correspondence
    source: Farmer, Ann Dahlstrom, Ms.
    source: Farmer, Malcolm, Mr., 1915-2011
    Identifier/Call Number: 2015.110.w.r
    Physical Description: 0.2 Linear Feet (5 folders)
    Date (inclusive): 1943 - 2016
    Date (bulk): 1943 - 1945
    Abstract: This collection contains correspondence from 2LT Malcolm French Farmer, USA, to his mother during the Second World War, as well as photographs and some biographical information.
    Language of Material: English .
    Container: WWII 11
    Container: 11-15

    Conditions Governing Access

    This collection is open for research.

    Immediate Source of Acquisition

    Gift of Ann Dahlstrom Farmer.

    Arrangement

    This collection is arranged by material type and date:
    • Series 1, Correspondence from Malcolm Farmer
    • Series 2, Photographs
    • Series 3, Biographical materials
    • Series 4, Photocopies and map

    Biographical / Historical

    Second Lieutenant Malcolm French Farmer, United States Army, was born August 6, 1915 in Los Angeles, California, the son of Ollef and Nellie Worst Farmer. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology in 1940 from the University of Arizona and later did graduate work at the University of Washington.
    He entered the United States Army Air Force in 1943 and trained at Fort MacArthur and mentioned training in North Dakota and North Carolina. He was then assigned to the 320th Bomb Group, 444th Bomb Squadron and he arrived in North Africa in September 1943. He spent the next ten months in Sardinia and Corsica as he was promoted to Staff Sergeant and then moved to France in December 1944 and was promoted to Technical Sergeant in February 1945.
    2LT Farmer then entered Officer's Candidate School while in France in February and earned Second Lieutenant by late April. He was then assigned to the United States Army Headquarters 423rd Infantry Regiment, 334th Reinforcement Company. He spent the rest of the war there and did not need to see combat. After the war had ended, he spent some time in Germany and then he was reassigned to Company L, 134th Infantry in Rheims, France at Camp Norfolk. He wrote two final letters from England in August 1945.
    2LT Farmer spent time before and after the war as a curator at several museums in San Diego and Flagstaff, Arizona. His wife Doris died in 1950 and he remarried, to a woman named Ann and joined the faculty at Whittier College in California until he retired in 1981. Lt. Farmer and Doris' son John died in 2005, and Farmer passed away April 6, 2011.

    Preferred Citation

    [Item title, Box number, Folder number], Malcolm F. Farmer Second World War correspondence (2015.110.w.r), Center for American War Letters Archives, Chapman University, CA.
    For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URL's, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

    Content Description

    This collection contains correspondence from 2LT Malcolm French Farmer, USA, to his mother during the Second World War. The correspondence consists of letters and V-mail. Also contained in this collection are biographical information, photographs, photocopies of letters and a map, as well as a brief background identification of persons named in the letters written by the donor. Inventory:
    85 letters
    76 v-mails
    three postcards
    10 pieces of related material such as photographs and maps.
    four related biographical material
    one clipping, photocopy, "WWII vet taught at Whittier College"
    one clipping, obituary, Malcolm French Farmer
    one letter, handwritten, Malcom Farmer, 2010

    Conditions Governing Use

    There are no restrictions on the use of this material except where previously copyrighted material is concerned. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain all permissions. For further copyright information, please contact the archivist.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Correspondence -- World War, 1939-1945
    World War II
    World War (1939-1945)
    World War (1939-1945) -- North Africa
    World War (1939-1945) -- Germany
    World War (1939-1945) -- Italy
    World War (1939-1945) -- England
    World War (1939-1945) -- France
    United States -- Army -- Air Forces
    United States -- Army -- European Theater of Operations
    United States. -- Army.
    Farmer, Ann Dahlstrom, Ms.
    Farmer, Malcolm, Mr., 1915-2011