Scope and Contents: The Edward Samuel, Jr. Photographic Album is a single bound album assembled by Samuel containing 160 photographs taken between July 1917, when his American Field Service (AFS) unit arrived in Bordeaux, through January 1919, when his United States Army Ambulance Service (USAAS) unit went to the Rhine following the signing of the Armistice.
The first photograph is loose, and appears to have been added later by a relative of Samuel. This photograph depicts Samuel on a pontoon bridge over the Rhine in front of a group of Alsatians desiring to be repatriated. The other 159 photographs depict places, people, and activities associated with the AFS and USAAS. All photographs, excepting the first, have captions supplied by Samuel, and it is presumed that most of the photographs were taken by him, though this is not indicated in the album. The photographs depict airplanes, trenches, barracks, defenses, damaged buildings, tanks, soldiers, and ambulances, taken in various locations of Samuel’s service, including Soissons, Aizy, La Veuve, Gascon, Champagne, Villers-Cotterêts, Dommiers, and Neuf-Brisach. Additionally, there are group and individual portraits of ambulance drivers in Section Sanitaire [États-] Unis (SSU) 70 of the AFS and SSU 636 of the USAAS, photographs of French, German, and British civilians and military personnel, and a photograph of A. Piatt Andrew, founder of the American Field Service.
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