This topic has been written on before in the past The Great War / World War I collections, Women Writers of World War I, Hugo “Hap” Gruenberg Collection, as well as numerous recent acquisition posts. This is because The Great War/WWI materials are one of the cornerstones of our collections.
Special Collections has been collecting in this topic since the 1970s, with the acquisition of hundreds of unit histories and other books comprising the original “World War I Library.” A subject search in the catalog would pull up, at this point, over 1700 titles, many of which are in the general collection stacks downstairs. This is due to space considerations. We hold over a hundred separate collections of diaries, letters, photographs, and artifacts relating to the war and post-war occupation.
While all of the collections are of importance, some have more local relevance. Some, like Hugo “Hap” Gruenberg, Josiah Chatfield, Amos V. Hall, Francis Albert Schmidt, Joseph Hause, and Perry Douglas Erwin were connected to Henry Kendall College, the institution that became the University of Tulsa. Others, such as George W. Sadlo and Ed Granger were from Oklahoma. Some, such as the Kelly Field scrapbooks deal with a training unit in San Antonio, which is more broadly regional.