A Guide to the John B. Hurt Papers, 1936-2008
A Collection in
Special Collections, Kegley Library
Collection Number 2009.4
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Special Collections, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College
Special CollectionsKegley Library
Wytheville Community College
Wytheville, Virginia 24382-3308
USA
Phone: (276) 223-4744
Fax: (276) 223-4745
Email: gmattis@wcc.vccs.edu
URL: http://kegleylibrary.wcc.vccs.edu/
© 2011 By Wytheville Community College. All rights reserved.
Processed by: Cathy Carlson Reynolds
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
Collection is open to research.
Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Preferred Citation
John B. Hurt Papers, Mss. Collection 2009.4, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College, Wytheville, VA
Acquisition Information
Donated by Beverly Repass Hoch in 2009.
Biographical Information
John B. Hurt was born 4 March 1904 in Fairmont, West Virginia, the son of John David P. Hurt and Edith Shaffer. The family moved to Wytheville where Hurt attended area schools, and developed an intense passion for languages especially Japanese. A former missionary to Japan introduced him to the language that became his life's work.
Hurt studied at the College of William and Mary and then transferred to Roanoke College. At this Lutheran liberal arts school Hurt further honed his linguistic skill by rooming with a Japanese roommate, Masao Maura, among other foreign students. He also befriended Chitose Koshi, who later became a Lutheran minister in Japan. He later studied at the University of Virginia. It was not until 1952, however. that he received a Bachelors of Arts from the University of Maryland.
He met and married Ana Dritelle, a cellist, while in France. The marriage was later annulled . After the death of his second wife, Myrtle Deteirre around 1945, Ana Dritelle and Hurt remarried.
Hurt began his linguistic and cryptologic career in 1930 as a cryptanalyst aide in the Signal Intelligence Service, a predecessor to the National Security Agency. He and his co-workers, including Frank Rowlett, intercepted and attempted to decode live international radio intelligence codes. Hurt eventually became head of the linguistic division and retired in 1963.
He and his wife Ana Dritelle Hurt (remarried ca. 1949) settled in New York where he died on 8 August 1966.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of correspondence (Folders 1 - 11) between historian Beverly Repass Hoch and curators, genealogists, researchers, and family members regarding John B. Hurt. Also included are photocopy letters to and by Hurt in Folder 1. Photographs of Hurt, his family and co-workers as well as Hurt researcher Mamiko Kiyono are found in Folders 12 - 14. Research notes by Beverly Repass Hoch are found in Folders 15 - 19.
A nomination application for Hurt for Wytheville's Wall of Honor is in Folder 20. Folder 21 and 22 contain copies of articles written by Hurt on Japanese linguistics and cryptanalysis.
Separated Material
The following books were donated by Beverly Repass Hoch and added to the general library book collection: Battle of Wits: the Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II. by Stephen Budiansky; The Pacific War Papers: Japanese Documents of World War II. by Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon; Codebreakers' Victory: How the Allied Cryptographers Won World War II. by Hervie Haufler; Marching Orders: the Untold Story of World War II. by Bruce Lee; and The Story of Magic: Memoirs of an American Cryptologic Pioneer. by Frank B. Rowlett.
Adjunct Descriptive Data
Bibliography
Hoch, Beverly Repass. "John B. Hurt, Master Linguist. "Retrospective, 2. 2006: 7-21.Bibliography
Hoch, Beverly Repass. "John B. Hurt, Master Linguist. "Retrospective, 2. 2006: 7-21.Contents List
This folder contains email correspondence between Lee Allen, author of Magic: the Untold Story and Beverly Repass Hoch. Allen recommends sources such as: The Story of Magic by Frank B. Rowlett and Marching Orders by Bruce Lee.
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Letter. Photocopy. John B. Hurt, Washington, D. C. to Laura Virginia Holston Sutherland. 18 August 1939.3 p.
Re: death of her husband, Marvin Sutherland. (2 copies; transcription by Mary Ferguson; email dated 6 July 2005 giving explanatory notes on family members mentioned in letter.)
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Letter. Photocopy. Matsui Tosihide, Michigan Agriculture University, [East Lansing, Mich.] to John B. Hurt. Undated.2 p.
Re: tuberculosis of Ikehara, difficulty of classes, and his promise to send grammar book. (Translated by Mamiko Kiyono, 20 June 2005, note to Beverly Repass Hoch included.)
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Notes. Photocopy. Japanese. "Physical Science for Girls." Undated.
From book owned by John B. Hurt.
This folder contains emails between Beverly Repass Hoch and Rowena Lausch Clough of the National Cryptologic Museum library re: research on John B. Hurt including a photograph, employment at Signal Intelligence Service, and visit of Mamiko Kiyono. Also included is "2 Old Timers: John Hurt " by Bob Cooper and an oral history interview with Dr. Solomon Kullback. Articles from the NSA Newsletter regarding retirement of John B. Hurt in 1963 and Frank Rowlett in 1966 are included.
This folder contains email correspondence between Paul Dellinger, reporter for the Roanoke Times and Beverly Repass Hoch. Topics include visit and possible interview with Mamiko Kiyono, article on John B. Hurt. Also included is the article written by Dellinger, published online for the New River Valley Current, 4 September 2005.
This folder contains email correspondence between Mary Ferguson, genealogist, and Beverly Repass Hoch relating to research on John B. Hurt's family. Specifically discussed is his burial in Greenwood Cemetery, New York; his wives, Ana Dritelle and Myrtle Deteirre; meeting with Mamiko Kiyono; Edith Shaffer Hurt; Jacob S. Hurt; Jeannette Hurt Clippard; alcoholism of John Peirce Hurt; and other family members.
This folder contains email correspondence between David Hatch, Center for Cryptologic History at the National Security Agency and Beverly Repass Hoch relating to research on John B. Hurt. Also included is a print-out of an online article by Hatch, "ENIGMA and PURPLE: How the Allies Broke German and Japanese Codes during the War. "
This folder contains email correspondence between Beverly Repass Hoch, Rev. Glen D. Thomas of Concordia Seminary and Dr. Won Yong Ji, professor emeritus of systematic theology at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis regarding Dr. Chitose Kishi. Dr. Kishi was a fellow student with John B. Hurt at Roanoke College in the 1920s; he later attended Lutheran Southern Theological Seminary and South Carolina State University. He returned to Japan in 1928 and was a minister at Kyoto Evangelical Lutheran Church. During World War II he was arrested by Imperial police because of his religious convictions.
Also included in this folder is an article by Dr. Ji, "Luther Studies in the Sino-Cultural Region in Asia. " , Concordia Journal , October 2001.
This folder contains email correspondence between Beverly Repass Hoch and Mamiko Kiyono, a newspaper editor and writer from Japan, regarding research on John B. Hurt; travel plans to Wytheville and United States for June 2005; interviews with Wayne Norwood, son of Virginia Hurt Norwood (John B. Hurt's sister); and her visit to Wytheville June 13-15 2005. Also included is a copy of the article on her visit in the Wytheville Enterprise.
This folder contains a photocopy of a letter from Masao Maura, Kobe, Japan to Virginia Hurt Norwood, 13 February 1967, regarding the growing cultural assimilation between the United States and Japan, their mothers, etc. 1 p. Also included are photographs of the letter and envelop. Masao Maura was the roommate of John Hurt at Roanoke College.
This folder contains photocopies of email correspondence between Beverly Repass Hoch and Jim Root, a history teacher from California who researched World War II cryptographers. Also in this folder are photocopies of emails between Root and David Hatch, a historian with the National Security Agency.
This folder contains photocopies of email correspondence between Beverly Repass Hoch and Nancy Hurt Umberger, daughter of Jacob Hurt and Jeannette Gordon Hurt Clippard, regarding her memories of John B. Hurt.
This folder contains 9 photographs of 1963 retirement; 4 photographs of Hurt receiving medals; 1 of John Hurt ca. 1930; 1 of Hurt and 1st wife Ana Dritelle Hurt.
This folder contains photographs of the Hurt and Shaffer families: 1 photograph of John B. Hurt, Ana D. Hurt, and Edith Shaffer Hurt; 1 photograph of John B. Hurt, Jeanette Gordon Hurt, Jacob S. Hurt, Margaret Hurt, Clarence Hurt, and Myrtle Hurt; 1 photograph of Esther Hurt, John P. Hurt, Edith Shaffer Hurt, Virginia Hurt Norwood, Wallace Norwood; 1 photograph probably of Hurt's grandfather; 1 photograph Joseph Henry Franklin Hurt and Martha Cosby Crockett Hurt; 1 photograph of Edith Shaffer Hurt in front of house at North 4th Street, Wytheville; 1 photograph, poem and picture by Homer B. Umberger about James Alfred Crockett Hurt.
This folder contains: 1 photograph of Mamiko Kiyono; 2 photographs of Beverly Repass Hoch, Mamiko Kiyono, Edwin G. Shaffer, and Nancy Hurt Umberger; 1 photograph of Nancy Hurt Umberger, Jeannette Hurt Clippard, and Beverly Repass Hoch.
This folder contains research notes by Beverly Repass Hoch.
This folder contains research notes on the Hurt and Shaffer family genealogy.
This folder contains research notes on the education of John B. Hurt.
This folder contains research notes on Ana Dritelle Hurt, the first wife of John B. Hurt.
This folder contains research notes and articles on cryptography, cryptologists, and World War II.
This folder contains a nomination application and notes prepared by Beverly Repass Hoch for the addition of John B. Hurt to the Wytheville Wall of Honor.
Article by John B. Hurt; "Rationale of the Japanese Written Language: The Japanese and Their Classical Languages. " Also "A Historical Approach to the Study of the Development of the Japanese and Their Speech from Remote Time. " Articles were received by Beverly Repass Hoch from the Historic Cryptographic Collection, Record Group 457, Records of the National Security Agency / Central Security Service.
Article by John B. Hurt, ""A Version of the Japanese Problem in the Signal Intelligence Service, 1930-1945." "