By Chelsea Cates, Emily Ordway, and Greg Sato
Title: Balderston Family Collection, 1942-1947
Predominant Dates:1943-1946
ID: RG2/060
Creator: Balderston, Frederick E. (Frederick Emery) (1923-2007)
Extent: 0.65 Cubic Feet. More info below.
Arrangement: The papers are arranged alphabetically by type in one box. The contents of each folder are arranged chronologically. The photographs have been placed in a separate box and are currently unsorted.
Date Acquired: 02/10/2017
Languages: English
Frederick Balderston and Robert Balderston were American Field Service (AFS) volunteer ambulance drivers during World War II in the Middle East, Italy, and India. The Balderston Family Collection contains the brothers’ wartime correspondence and information about their platoon, communication about the 1946 AFS reunion, a group of wartime photographs, and one drawing.
The Balderston Family Collection includes photographs, letters, v-mail, postcards, and other documents related to the experiences of brothers Frederick “Fred” and Robert “Bob” Balderston as ambulance drivers with the American Field Service in the Middle East, Europe, and India during World War II.
The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence, including handwritten letters and v-mail, between the brothers and their family and friends, written while they were volunteering overseas between 1943 and 1945. The brothers’ language in letters to their father, C. Canby Balderston, reflects their Quaker background, with words like thee and thy used in place of you andyour. Some of these letters are incomplete as portions were removed by censors. The letters contain details about other members of their platoon, their day-to-day duties, trips taken during leave, and requests for items from home like cigarettes or a sewing kit. There is also one photograph of the ship that carried the brothers overseas, which appears to have been enclosed with a letter by Fred to his father in 1943, and a photograph of Bob in his AFS uniform, which was enclosed with a letter to his father on August 19, 1943. In addition to the letters by and to the brothers, the collection includes several letters addressed to their father and stepmother C. Canby and Ida Balderston. There is one anomalous letter in the collection written by fellow AFS volunteer D. Robert Yarnall Jr. to his parents. It is not clear how the Balderston brothers came to be in possession of this letter.
In addition to the wartime letters, the collection also includes letters and 67 RSVP postcards addressed to Fred after the war concerning an AFS C Platoon of 485 Company luncheon. Frederick organized the event, which was held on September 28, 1946, at the Commodore Hotel in New York City.
Another significant part of the collection is the approximately 750 black and white wartime photographs taken by various members of the brothers’ platoon. It seems that Fred requested and collected these photographs, which range in size from 1” x 2” to 2.5” x 3”, from his fellow platoon members in order to create a memorial photograph album honoring Lt. Robert C. Bryan. Lt. Bryan was killed while volunteering in Italy on May 5, 1944. This album appears to have never come to fruition. The photographs Fred collected depict the work and leisure activities of his platoon in several theaters. Some of the photographs depict monuments or locations, such as an image of the Temple of Jupiter at Baalbek, Lebanon, or a shot of Mussolini's balcony in Rome. Others show the men of C Platoon and their ambulances ready for action or the destruction caused by war, such as an image of a woman walking through rubble or Polish soldiers worshiping in the ruined remains of the monastery at Monte Cassino.
In addition to the photographs, there is one undated ink drawing by an unknown artist, depicting Fred and another member of C Platoon walking back to their camouflaged ambulance after a German air raid.
The remainder of the collection consists of materials created by or about AFS, including an AFS Newsletter #27 from March 24, 1947, written by staff member Lillian A. Gordon, a lyric sheet for the song The Colonel and I, a roster of AFS service volunteers, a personnel list for C Platoon of 485 Company, and some handwritten notes on the wartime locations of C Platoon.
Alternate Extent Statement: 2 boxes
Access Restrictions: This collection is open for research. Cotton gloves are required for the handling of all photographic material.
Use Restrictions: Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the collection must be submitted in writing to the AFS Archives. In the event that this research becomes a source for publication, a credit line indicating the Archives of the American Field Service and AFS Intercultural Programs is required. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions.
Acquisition Method: This collection was donated to the Archives of the American Field Service and AFS Intercultural Programs in 2017 by Daniel, Jonathan, Sara, and Thomas Balderston, the children of Frederick Balderston.
Separated Materials: No items were deaccessioned, separated, or removed from the collection.
Related Materials: For more information on Frederick Balderston’s activities during his AFS service, view RG4/002, the Oral History Collection, ca. 1985–2012 (Series 2: Legacy Project, 1999-2012, Subseries 2A: World War II Oral History Project, 1999–2000). For more information on the American Field Service activities during World War II, view RG2/001, the American Field Service World War II Records. For more information about Frederick Balderston’s academic career, see the University of California, Berkeley, University Archives: CU–302, Kerr (Clark) Personal and Professional Papers (1800–2005). For more information about Frederick and Robert’s parents, C. Canby and Gertrude Balderston, and Frederick’s first wife Judith Braude, see the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College, Balderston Family Papers, RG5/299.
Preferred Citation: [Identification of item], [Date]; Balderston Family Collection; Archives of the American Field Service and AFS Intercultural Programs, New York, NY.
Processing Information: This collection was processed by Chelsea Cates, Emily Ordway, and Greg Sato in 2018. Finding aid written by Chelsea Cates, Emily Ordway, and Greg Sato in April 2018, and was encoded in EAD by Nicole Milano in May 2018.
