By Nicole Milano
Title: American Field Service World War II Records, 1939-1958
Predominant Dates:1940-1945
ID: RG2/001
Creator: American Field Service
Extent: 83.49 Cubic Feet. More info below.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged at the box level into the following eight series, based on the administrative structure of the American Field Service and the military forces they served with during World War II: Series 1: New York Headquarters, 1939-1946 (bulk 1940-1945); Series 2: Regional Representatives, 1939-1942; Series 3: Tenth French Army, 1940; Series 4: Middle East Forces, 1941-1944; Series 5: Central Mediterranean Forces, 1943-1945; Series 6: South East Asia Command, 1942-1945 (bulk 1944-1945); Series 7: First French Army, 1943-1945; Series 8: British Liberation Army, 1945. In addition to the 109 boxes arranged by series, the collection includes two boxes of unsorted files (1 cubic foot) that have yet to be incorporated into existing series.
The collection is processed at a series and box level only; the folders (and individual items) remain unsorted within each series. See the individual series descriptions for more information.
The American Field Service (AFS) was an ambulance organization founded in World War I and reactivated in 1939 under the leadership of Director General Stephen Galatti. American volunteers drove ambulances in France, North Africa, the Middle East, Italy, Germany, India, and Burma, and carried over 700,000 casualties by the end of World War II. The American Field Service World War II Records include personnel records, identification cards, reports, printed material, publications, official war diaries and logs, correspondence, and other administrative files generated by the organization at its various offices and headquarters during the war until the start of the AFS student exchange programs in 1947.
The American Field Service World War II Records include personnel records, identification cards, reports, printed material, publications, official war diaries and logs, correspondence, and other administrative files generated by the organization at its various offices and headquarters during the war until the start of the AFS student exchange programs in 1947. The bulk of the collection consists of the correspondence, publications, scrapbooks, personnel files, and identification cards kept at New York Headquarters, although there are also administrative files from the regional representatives in Boston and Detroit. Overseas material includes administrative files, publications, war diaries, and logs from the AFS offices and field headquarters near the French and British forces. In addition to the wartime material, the collection includes post-war documents related to repatriation and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), which some AFS ambulance drivers joined after the war, as well as two boxes of unsorted material. These unsorted files contain personnel applications, documents related to 485 and 567 Ambulance Car Companies, and ambulance plaque information. They also include later correspondence dated as late as 1958, which was likely related to George Rock’s The History of the American Field Service, 1920-1955 (1956, American Field Service, Inc.)
See the individual series descriptions for more information.
Alternate Extent Statement: 154 boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 1 tube, 4 loose film cans
Access Restrictions: This collection is open for research. Some of the company, unit, and platoon diaries in Series 4, 5, and the unsorted files are fragile and must be handled with care. The personnel files in Series 1 are partially restricted due to sensitive information. E-mail the AFS Archives staff for information about accessing these files.
Use Restrictions: Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the collection must be submitted in writing to the 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: The collection was transferred to the Archives of the American Field Service and AFS Intercultural Programs (AFS Archives) by AFS staff at unknown dates. While the New York Headquarters files remained with the organization during and after the war, some of the files related to overseas activities were collected from overseas wartime staff in the years after the war, as indicated by correspondence within the collection. Director General Stephen Galatti appointed W. W. Phillips as AFS Historian during the war, and sent Phillips to the Middle East to issue directions for the keeping of records, and also to collect files from the Cairo Headquarters. Phillips also took down accounts of personal memories to fill in gaps from the records, and these are likely present in the collection.
Appraisal Information: Select tributes and commendations were removed by AFS Archives staff at an unknown date, and placed into a topical collection (World War II Tributes, RG2/007.) No other items were deaccessioned, separated, or removed from the collection.
Related Materials: For more tributes and commendations (in addition to those in Series 1), see the World War II Tributes (RG2/007), which was removed as a topical collection at an unknown date by AFS Archives staff. For the official photographic collection, which was kept by New York Headquarters staff during the war, see the American Field Service World War II Photographic Collection (RG2/002.) For the official records of the American Field Service during World War I, see the American Field Service World War I Records (RG1/001.)
Preferred Citation: [Identification of item], [Date]; American Field Service World War II Records; Archives of the American Field Service and AFS Intercultural Programs, New York, NY.
Processing Information: Certain series of this collection were partially processed by AFS Archives staff at an unknown date, and the entire collection was processed at a series level by Nicole Milano in 2011. Preliminary finding aid written by Nicole Milano in June 2011 and encoded in EAD by Nicole Milano in June 2011 under the scope of the 2010-2011 Basic Processing grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
0.5 cubic feet (1 box)
This series contains correspondence and volunteer applications for three of the 106 regional representatives of the American Field Service during World War II. The representatives were often veteran ambulance drivers from the First World War, who assisted in fundraising and recruiting ambulance drivers from across the country.
The series includes incoming and outgoing correspondence and driver applications (regional office copies), administered by William DeFord Bigelow and Dunbar Hinrichs in Boston, Massachusetts. Both men were veterans of the organization from World War I, having served as ambulance drivers in (SSU) 4 and SSU 1, respectively. Hinrichs was only briefly stationed in Boston in 1942 before heading overseas to assist AFS with the British Middle East Forces, and may not have been considered an “official” representative due to his transitory status. The Hinrichs folder also includes a copy of a recruitment speech he gave in Greenville, NC. In addition to the Boston representatives, there are also volunteer applications and incoming and outgoing correspondence for John Clifford Hanna, also a former World War I SSU 1 ambulance driver, located in a Detroit, Michigan office.
This series is processed at box level only; the folders (and individual items) remain unsorted. There are no available records for the other 106 regional representatives in the United States.
