Student Army Training Corps commemorative booklet, 1918
From the Records Pertaining to Military and Wartime Service (RG 28.0001.001)
This guide describes materials available in the University of Iowa Archives, Department of Special Collections, that pertain to the University’s historic role in military and wartime service. RG numbers refer to the described collection’s record group number.
If you have questions about our holdings, please feel free to contact us.
Alumni magazines, including The Iowa Alumnus (1903-1925), The Iowa Alumni Review (1947-1993), The Iowa Alumni Quarterly (1993-2000), and The Iowa Alumni Magazine (2000- ). Back issues of all alumni publications, with the exception of the most recent five years, are available online as part of the Iowa Digital Library. RG 01.0009.002.
Historical Papers Collection. Includes the following monographs. RG 01.0001.003.
Berens, Col. Robert J. “A Golden Opportunity.” Recollections of a military officer who was among the first to attend the State University of Iowa under the GI Bill following World War II.
Stodart, Nona Ruth. “Military Training at the University of Iowa since 1917.”
Records Pertaining to Military and Wartime Service. Records include the U.S. Army’s Student Army Training Corps (1918-1919), the Army Specialized Training Program (1940-1945), and the U.S. Naval Pre-flight Training School (1940-1945). RG 28.0001.001.
Records of the Associated Women Students. Includes references to World War II-era campus victory drive. RG 02.0003.003.
Records of the Civilian Pilot Training Program. Reports and memos for eight-week student courses, 1942-1944. RG 10.0003.002.
Records of the Department of Military Science. A department within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. RG 06.0023.001.
Records of the Office of the Dean, College of Liberal Arts. Records include references to veterans and World War II. RG 06.0001.001.
Records of the Department of Mathematics. Includes one folder on draft deferments for faculty during World War II, correspondence series, 1941-1946. RG 06.0022.001.
Hecker Collection of Postcards and Photographs. RG 30.0001.034.
Frederick W. Kent Collection of Photographs: Colleges and Departments Series, Military folder; Organizations Series, Military-ROTC sub-series. RG 30.0001.001.
Organizations and Clubs Vertical Files Collection. Includes Pershing Rifles, University of Iowa Veterans’ Association, and Scabbard and Blade honorary military society. RG 01.0015.004.
Papers of Marilyn Nesper Hewlett, 1942-1946. Of particular interest are her notes as a participant in “Speaking for Victory,” Iowa’s wartime student speaking program. RG 02.0009.013.
Publications. Some University-produced publications include references to military and wartime service. Titles of over 200 such publications may be searched in the University Serials and Journals Collection (RG 01.0009.002).
Subject Vertical Files Collection. Includes Air Science (Air Force ROTC), Military Science (ROTC), and War Times series. RG 01.0015.005.
Books and articles listed by era:
Civil War:
Horack, Frank E. “The Flag of the University Company.” Iowa Historical Record 15 (July 1899): 517-520.
Rich, Ellen M. “State University of Iowa and the Civil War.” Iowa Historical Record 15 (January 1899): 395-408. Also in Iowa and War 8 (February 1918): 1-24.
Ibid. “State University of Iowa and the Civil War.” Iowa and War, no. 8, February 1918.
Thornton, Harrison John. “The State University of Iowa and the Civil War.” Annals of Iowa, 3d ser. 30 (January 1950): 198-209.
Van der Zee, Jacob. “Wartime Commencements.” Iowa Alumnus 12, no. 9 (June 1915): 5-7. Student life, 1860-1866.
Wanerus, Theodore A. “The University and the Civil War.” Iowa Alumnus 9 (November 1911): 37-40, illus.
World War I:
Bangsberg, Harry Frederick. “History of the State University of Iowa: The University and World War I.” M.A. thesis, University of Iowa, 1951. 299 pp.
Koch, Louis P. “Drill on the Campus: The Student’s Army Training Corps, 1918.” Palimpsest 56 (November-December 1975): 184-191, illus.
World War II :
Baldwin, Ralph B. The Deadly Fuze: The Secret Weapons of World War II. Presidio Press, 1980. Recounts the research by James A. Van Allen in 1941-42 through the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University to develop avionic target-sensing devices known as proximity fuzes.
Bourke-White, Margaret, photographer. “Veterans at College.” Life 22, no. 16 (April 21, 1947): 105-113, illus.
Goldman, Joanne Abel. “Mobilizing Science in the Heartland: Iowa State College, the State University of Iowa and National Science during World War II.” The Annals of Iowa 59, no. 4 (Fall 2000): 374-397.
Keefer, Louis E. Scholars in Foxholes, 1998, 282 pp.
Marrs, K. Ray. I Was There When the World Stood Still. Bloomington, Indiana: First Books Library, 2003. 448 pp. Recounts experiences in Navy V-5 Flight Training program at UI.
Scott, Marvin. “The Veterans and the University of Iowa: 1945-1950.” Seminar Paper, University of Iowa, ca. 1969. 29 pp.
University of Iowa. Alumni Office. State University of Iowa deceased, World War II / compiled by Alumni Office. Iowa City, Iowa: University of Iowa, 1946. 33 pp.
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