Conditions Governing Use:

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act ( Code of Virginia . § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act ( Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Conditions Governing Access:

Collection is open to all researchers.

Preferred Citation:

Emma L. Brown Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Acquisition Information:

Purchase.

Processing Information:

Acessioned and minimally processed by SCRC staff on 23 July 2014.

Scope and Contents

The Emma L. Brown papers consist for the most part of letters Emma Brown of Danielson, Connecticut, received from her son, Sergeant Percy Brown, who was deployed to France in July 1917. He was wounded and hospitalized in Orleans in the fall of 1918 and his letters date from 12 November 1918 to his return to the US in the spring of 1919. He talks about Armistice celebrations in the streets, life in the hospital, his leg injury, celebrating Christmas in the hospital and with a local family, sending money to his mother, interactions with fellow service members and so on.

Also included are the following:

--A 1908 military order of Percy Brown's 13th Company, Coast Artillery Corps, Connecticut National Guard.

--A sheet of notes his mother kept, recording the chronology of his deployment and the dates she received his letters.

--Two more letters to Emma Brown by acquaintances, one commenting on the war and the other a reminder of an overdue payment for domestic labor.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Soldiers--France--Correspondence
• World War, 1914-1918--France
• World War, 1914-1918--Medical care--France