Finding Aid for the Marvin W. Spafford First World War photograph collection 2019.103.w.r

Andrew Harman

Center for American War Letters Archives

10/17/2019

Leatherby Libraries

Chapman University

Orange, CA 92866

speccoll@chapman.edu

URL: http://www1.chapman.edu/library/archives/

Contributing Institution: Center for American War Letters Archives

Title: Marvin W. Spafford First World War photograph collection

source: Spafford, Mary

source: Spafford, Marvin W., d. 1928

Identifier/Call Number: 2019.103.w.r

Physical Description: 2 Linear Feet (26 objects, 1 folder)

Date (inclusive): 1918 January - December 24

Abstract: This collection contains 26 framed black and white photographs taken by the United States Army Signal Corps in Europe during the First World War, collected by Marvin W. Spafford of the Signal Corps.

Condition Description: Some descriptions have faded and most have been retyped by Spafford's son and added to the frame.

Physical Location: Some of the items in this collection are on display in the Center for American War Letters Archives Reading Room.

Language of Material: English .

Container: British Antique Case Drawers

Container: 14-16

Container: WWI 16

Container: 7-8

Container: 1-2

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Mary Spafford.

Arrangement

This collection is in no particular order. Photographs will be on display on a rotating basis.

Biographical / Historical

Marvin W. Spafford was born in 1895 in Chicago, Illinois and worked as a photojournalist for the Chicago Tribune. He married a telephone operator named Sara Marie Mongan and after served with the United States Army Signal Corps in Europe during the First World War. After the war, he and Sara moved to California with their two sons where he worked for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and taught at Universal Studios. He was killed while on assignment in Anaheim by a train at a blind crossing in 1928.

Preferred Citation

[Item title / description; Box "n" / Folder "n"], Marvin W. Spafford First World War photograph collection (2019.103.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 URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

Content Description

This collection contains 26 framed black and white photographs taken by the United States Army Signal Corps in Europe during the First World War. The photographs were collected by Marvin W. Spafford, who served with the Signal Corps but did not take the photos, and include official Signal Corps descriptions, though some are missing. Also included in the collection is one magazine, OC Home, dated May 2014 with an article about the collection on page 22. The collection was framed by the donor and her husband Jack Spafford, Marvin Spafford's son, and displayed in their home.

Added October 21, 2019: nine more images, not in frames.

The descriptions have been retyped by Spafford's son and are included on the outside of the frame due to fading of the original labels.

The article in OC Home also includes additional photographs not included in the framed collection.

Keywords contained within the descriptions, and seen in the photographs, include:

People:

President Poinmeare (French)
General John J. Pershing
General Weibel (French)
General de Terge (French)
Corporal A.H. Hanson (S.C. photographer)
General C.H. Cole (Charles H. Cole)
Captain Le Meitous (French)
Lieutenant J.C. Leggat
Lieutenant R.C. Smith
Lieutenant A. W. MacCauley
Lieutenant H. Evein (French)
Sergeant First Class C. Jackson (S.C. photographer)
Sergeant J.J. Marchsll ([Marchall?] S.C. photographer)
Sergeant Meseioni (S.C. photographer)
Lieutenant Nat L. Dewell (S.C. photographer)
Corporal R.H. Ingleston (S.C. photographer)
Sergeant First Class John M. Marshal
E.A. Brotherhood (S.C. photographer)
Ann Davis, New Jersey (YMCA)
Elisabeth Barker, New York (YMCA
Sergeant G.H. Shotwell (S.C. photographer)
Private J.W. Beach (S.C. photographer)
Major General James J. Harbord
Lieutenand General E. Evans
Sergeant Major J.D. Hall
Sergeant P.J. O'Brian
Lieutenant E.N. Jackson (S.C. photographer)
Private J.E. Gibbons (S.C. photographer)
Major General W. Ironsides (British)

Places:

Chaumont, France
Montzéville, Meuse, France
Juvigny, France
St. Baussin, France
Cantigny Eroyes, France
Woëvre, Lorraine, France
Wadonville, France (Wadonville en Woëvre)
Dancourt, France (Doncourt-aux-Templiers)
St. Milaire, France (Saint-Hilaire-en-Woëvre)
Herbeuville, France
Epieds, France
Flirey, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France
Chaussers, France
Gondrecourt-le-Château, France
Neufchâteau, France
Laronville, France
St. Jacques, France
St. Mihiel, France
Piave Front (frontline on the Piave River, near Varago, Italy)
Vosges (French mountain range)
Coblenz, Germany (Koblenz)
Rhine River
Ehrenbreitstein fortress
"Bridge of Boats" (ponton bridge on the Rhine at Coblenz, built in 1819)
Villers, France
Chatêau Thierry, France
Grandpré, France
Belgium
Monthauer, Germany
Nesles, France
Wirges, Germany
Toul, France
Courborn, France
Mt. Vernen
Brest, France
Beauvardes, France
Verst 455, Russia
Bassens Docks, Bordeaux, France
Argonne Forest
Abri du Cruchet, Meuse, France
St. Nazaire, France
Marne River
Mezy Mezy, France
Vologda Railway, Russia
Archangel, Russia (Arkhangelsk)

Units:

129th Infantry, 33rd Division
Company C, 107th Field Signal Battalion
1st Division
52nd Infantry Brigade
104th Infantry
524th Engineers
168th Infantry, 42nd Division
1st Corps School (Gondrecourt, France)
26th Division
9th Infantry, 2nd Division
35th Division
32nd Division
Company A, 7th Machine Gun Battalion
312th Machine Gun Company, 78th Division
30th Division
1st Engineers, 1st Division
28th Division
167th Infantry, 42nd Division
Company A and Company B, 210th Engineers
302nd Field Signal Battalion, 77th Division
Company A, 6th Engineers, 3rd Division
Company M, 339th US Infantry

General Notes: Artillery, snow, destruction of buildings, mortars, military decorations, prisoners, mosquito masks, American Army of Occupation in Germany, YMCA.

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.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

World War (1914-1918)

Photographs

World War (1914-1918) -- Photography

United States -- Army -- Signal Corps

United States. -- Army.

War -- Pictorial works

World War (1914-1918) -- Pictorial works

Spafford, Mary

Spafford, Marvin W., d. 1928