Processing is now complete for the following manuscript collections. Guides are available at the Online Archive of California.
Army Chaplain Walter Marvine papers, 1874-1936 (M1927)
Army Chaplain Walter Marvine, 1857-1945, served in the Philippines during the "Philippine Insurrection" (1899-1900), with the 9th Infantry in China at Tientsin during the "Boxer Rebellion" (1900-1901) and with the Expeditionary Brigade during World War One while serving with Coast Artillery Corps. The collection consists of nearly 3,000 letters, a diary, accounts, and sermons. Also included are lengthier accounts of his experiences, such as: "Sentinel Duty at Fort Shaw, MT, 1875," "A Story of the East TN Mountains,” "Some Incidents of My Experiences During the Campaign in China, 1900-01," and "Tome written from Ft. Huachuka from Grace to Walter in China, 2 Aug 1900."
Smedley Darlington Butler family correspondence, 1894-1957(M1975)
Smedley Butler’s Marine Corps career lasted from 1898-1932. He then became the author of a classic antiwar tract, "War is a Racket" (1935), and leader of a veteran’s peace movement. The collection includes over 1,000 letters, photographs, and ephemera. Of particular interest in this collection are Butler's letters written to his wife from Haiti which detail his adventures in that country. In 1915, rebel Haitians known as Cacos killed the Haitian dictator Vilbrun Guillaume Sam. In response, the United States ordered the USS Connecticut to Haiti with Major Butler and a group of Marines on board. Butler put down the rebellion and subsequently organized the Haitian Gendamerie. Social order was restored and several public works projects were completed. Many of the incoming correspondent's letters are from old Philadelphia Quaker family names, Such as Biddle, Butler, Darlington, Peters, Sharpless, Willig, etc.
