R. Norris Williams collection of World War I material, 1914-1968.

Format:

Other

Author/Creator:

Williams, Richard Norris, II, 1891-1968.

Language:

English

French

German

Subjects (All):

Cavell, Edith, 1865-1915.

Cavell, Edith.

Churchill, Winston, 1874-1965.

Churchill, Winston.

Harbord, James G. (James Guthrie), 1866-1947.

Harbord, James G.

Hindenburg, Paul von, 1847-1934.

Hindenburg, Paul von.

Kilmer, Joyce, 1886-1918.

Kilmer, Joyce.

Lawrence, T. E. (Thomas Edward), 1888-1935.

Lawrence, T. E.

Percy of Newcastle, Eustace Percy, Baron, 1887-1958.

Percy of Newcastle, Eustace Percy.

Pershing, John J. (John Joseph), 1860-1948.

Pershing, John J.

Pétain, Philippe, 1856-1951.

Pétain, Philippe.

World War, 1914-1918.

World War, 1914-1918--Propaganda.

Propaganda.

World War, 1914-1918--United States.

World War, 1914-1918--France.

World War, 1914-1918--Germany.

World War, 1914-1918--Belgium.

Genre:

Manuscripts, American.

Clippings (information artifacts)

Correspondence.

Diaries.

Leaflets (printed works)

Newspapers.

Photographs.

Penn Provenance:

Gift of Sue Williams, wife of R. Norris Williams, circa 1987.

Physical Description:

8 boxes (3.5 linear feet)

Arrangement:

Organized into 2 series: I. World War I material and II. Richard N. Williams material about the creation of his World War I collection.

Place of Publication:

1914-1968.

Language Note:

The bulk of this collection is in English, with material in French and German.

Biography/History:

Richard Norris Williams, II (1891-1968) served in the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I and was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Légion d'Honneur. A descendant of Benjamin Franklin and Bishop White, Williams was born in 1891 to American parents in Switzerland. In 1912, Williams and his father were traveling to the United States on the Titanic, when during the sinking, Norris dove into the water, swam towards a half-submerged inflatable raft that floated off the ship as it sank, and stayed afloat until the Carpathia rescued the survivors. In the five and a half years between the Titanic disaster and America's entry into the War, Williams received a degree from Harvard, achieved international tennis fame as the reigning U.S. champion, and began an investment banking career. Shortly after President Woodrow Wilson's 1917 Declaration of War, he volunteered for the U.S. Army. After a brief stint as an artillery officer, Williams came to the Army's notice because of his fluency in German and French and was ordered to the French Staff School at Senlis as an instructor in English. When close artillery fire necessitated the school's closing, he became Aide-de-Camp to General James G. Harbord, Commander of the Marine Brigade, Second Division, and later Commander of Services of Supply. As a member of the General Headquarters staff, Williams had the opportunity personally to observe the major directors of the war in action. He knew Pershing, Pétain, and, after the Armistice, Secretary of War Newton Baker. He had a propensity for participating in the great events of history: not only had he survived the Titanic's sinking, he also watched the first bombing of Paris by air, participated in the battle of Belleau Wood (part of the Chateau Thierry campaign, the most important American engagement of the war), and worked at staff headquarters during the peace negociations. For his dependable and often courageous action, he received the Croix de Guerre and the Légion d'Honneur. Still in Europe in February of 1919, with most of the American army, he won the singles and doubles championships at the A.E.F. tennis competition in Cannes. Williams seldom spoke of the extraordinary events of his life. Often heroic, he minimized his own heroism; even in his personal memoirs of the Great War, a reader finds only a lively and humorous account of events. He met those events with a sense of quiet confidence. He had an ability to respond quickly and appropriately to situations as they arose, as effective on the battlefield as he had been on the tennis court. Both the general awareness of the terrible impact of the War, which he clearly shared, and Williams' own encounters with history -- his Titanic experience, his tennis fame -- must have prepared him to appreciate the War's historical significance. As his later career was to demonstrate, he had a historian's sensibility. Even in battle, he remembered to collect bits and pieces of history: aerial reconnaissance photographs; outdated instructions from French artillery positions; the maps he "souveniered," used, and then saved; the menu card he asked diners (among them, Pétain) to autograph. After the war, Williams returned to the investment banking profession he had left. In the 1920s, when lawn tennis remained truly an amateur's game and not a profession, an investment banker could still enter the competition for, and win, the Wimbledon doubles title, as Williams did. In the 1930s, with increased free time on his hands, Williams returned to his War memories and began seriously to put his World War I Collection together. During World War II, as a trustee of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, he became his Active Director, replacing the incumbent who had gone to fight overseas. He remained Director of the Historical Society until shortly before his death in 1968. The entirety of the above biographical note is taken from "An Exhibition celebrating the R. Norris Williams World War I Collection," by Elizabeth A. Mosimann. This exhibition was on view from November 14, 1988 to January 6, 1989 in the Kamin Gallery of the Van Pelt Library at the Unviersity of Pennsylvania.

Summary:

Richard N. Williams's own experience of World War I is discernable through his diary (1917-1919) and his war-time photographs. Following the war, he also conducted further research on the war. Thus, the letters, clippings, newspapers, leaflets and some photographs give the whole picture of the conflict. He corresponded with military men, publishers and specialists of World War I; and collected war-time newspapers and leaflets and newspapers clippings talking about the war and its heroes. This collection is organized in two series: the first one, World War I material consists of the items dating from 1914 to 1919; and the second one includes all the items he collected later in an effort to document the conflict.

Notes:

Materials Separated from the Resource: The original gift included books and other printed material in addition to Williams' archival material. All printed material was separated and catalogued independently of the archival collection. Researchers will find books collected by Williams in Franklin: Penn Libraries Catalog. Printed material can be found in Print Collection 12: World War I Printed Media and Art Collection.

OCLC:

875298013