During World War I, Davidson professors, students, and alumni went into service for their country. Cornelia Shaw, Davidson's first registrar and librarian, compiled information related to Davidson College's involvement in WWI and published the work War record, Davidson College, 1917-1918. There are print copies of this publication in E.H. Little Library and a digital version available through HathiTrust which is linked below in our list of resources. She notes that over 900 students and alumni went into service, in both commissioned and non-comissioned work. In this work, she names those who served, along with brief biographical notes and photographs of those who sacrificed their lives for their country.
The 1918 Quips and Cranks was dedicated to students and alumni who were serving in WWI. View the dedication page.
In September 1918, Davidson became a training site for the Students' Army Training Corps, a program that trained men for military service. The SATC was disbanded in December of 1918, but soon after, the War Department re-instituted the Reserve Officers' Training Corps.
On our blog, Around the D, you can find entries related to varying aspects of campus life and history. Listed below are select articles related to World War I and Davidson.
Other online resources include:
Listed below are relevant manuscript collections related to World War I. Collections are organized by manuscript number, along with a brief description of the collection's contents, and are hyperlinked to the collection's digital finding aid.
Description: Charles Montgomery, Davidson College Class of 1909, served in World War I and was killed in action in October of 1918. This collection contains eleven letters written from France during World War I by Charles Montgomery to Miss Cornelia "Cornie" Fore of Charlotte. The letters were written between June and September of 1918 (one undated)
Description: John Frederick Nash was graduated from Davidson College in 1911. He also attended the North Carolina Medical College and during World War I, he served in the Medical Corps in France. Correspondence in this collection includes letters sent to Nash by family members while he was a student at Davidson College, letters written during World War I and during the period he served in the reserves, and letters relating to his medical and political careers. Along with additional photographs relating to World War I, there are sets of postcards from France and artifacts from Nash's World War I medical kit.
Description: Sallie Stirewalt Paisley was born in 1857 and grew up in Catawba Springs and Statesville, North Carolina. Herhusband was a Davidson graduate and tutor at the college from 1880 to 1884. She later managed a boarding house on North Main Street in Davidson. The collection consists primarily of correspondence relating to her real estate and business investments from 1898 to 1934. While the correspondence is fairly routine, it does reflect economic changes during World War I and the Depression. There are also letters from Davidson College students written during World War I. The students were Jack M. Black (class of 1918), Harry D. Williamson (class of 1919), and Irwin P. Graham (class of 1908).
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