World War I collection

The core of the material in this collection was originally assembled out of the files of the Colonel Edward M. House collection in Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. It has been added to by subsequent gifts from various donors.

The collection consists of miscellaneous printed matter, photographs, songs, reports, and a small amount of correspondence and diaries of American men, chiefly with a Yale connection, describing their war experiences. Many of the printed items are official reports by the Belgian, British, French and German governments. Also included are special issues of illustrated magazines and memoirs of the war. Of the thirty-nine war songs in the collection, twenty-eight are in English and eleven are in French. These are in the form of sheet music and contain both lyrics and piano accompaniment. Among the reports are a history of the American military government in occupied Germany, 1918-1920 by Colonel I. L. Hunt, edited by Truman Smith, and a synopsis of the history of the European Service Division of the American Expeditionary Forces by Bryan F. Peters.

Photographs and maps marked with battle plans offer detailed information on the way the war was fought. Of particular interest is a nine-volume photographic account of the war prepared by the Section Photographique de l'Armée Française, aerial photographs of French territory showing battle lines, and two photograph albums assembled by M. G. H. Nettleton. German naval operations are illustrated with printed matter, broadsides, etchings showing naval battles and naval heroes, music and memorabilia.

For posters issued by France, Germany, Great Britain and the United States, see the War Poster Collection, MS 671.