While our Special Collections focus primarily on Western North Carolina and Appalachia, we also hold a number of materials documenting World War I. Student worker Cassie Crowe has been working on the Roland Sargent Collection, which includes several hundred copies of the rare Cross and Cockade Journal. Cassie became interested in the history of the journal and its various name changes and has written about her discoveries in Remembering the Birds of The Great War.
Interested in more materials related to World War I? Check out these collections:
- Robert J. Godbey Collection – Godbey was a clerk for the American Expeditionary Force in France from 1918-19. He kept extensive diaries of his experiences.
- Otis J. Clontz Collection – Contains postcards, photographs, and memorabilia from WWI.
- Henry Martin Knauth Photograph Collection – A collection of two-hundred-eighty-four photographs taken by Henry Martin Knauth during his tour of duty in Europe in the First World War as a quartermaster for the American Army.
- Ernest and Magnolia Thompson McKissick Oral History – McKissick discusses his experiences in the army during WWI.
- Massie Collection of Jesse Morris Photographs – Documents the Oteen Hospital during WWI.
- Irwin Monk Papers – Monk served in the 30th Division (The “Old Hickory” Division) in WWI. Includes maps of the war front, journals, Signal Corps manuals, wartime correspondence, and extensive documentation of his activities with veterans groups after the war.
- Black Highlanders in World War I – a brief account of Asheville area African Americans who served in WWI
- The Howard H. Peckham Collection – Contains over 100 first person accounts of individuals in WWI. These books are shelved in Special Collections.
