Scope and Content
The Edward Henry Loudenbeck collection documents Loudenbeck’s service in the United States Army during World War I. Dating 1917-1919, the collection includes mixed manuscripts, correspondence, printed material, and a photograph.
The bulk of the collection consists of mixed manuscripts and correspondence extensively documenting Loudenbeck’s two years in the United States Army. The mixed manuscript series includes transcriptions of Loudenbeck’s daily diary and letters to his sisters, Cora and Mina, father, and brother. Of particular interest, the diary includes daily entries documenting Loudenbeck’s time in Camp Custer through his return from the Europe including training camp, military life, farming in France, and summaries of each day. The correspondence series includes original letters from Loudenbeck to his family and several letters sent to the veteran. Topics include military and camp life, expenses, updates about Loudenbeck, morality, gender relations between American troops and European women, and news from home. Two letters from his pastor and a letter from General Pershing complete the correspondence in the collection. Printed matter consists of postcards with illustrations of World War I front. The photograph is of Loudenbeck with three fellow soldiers at Camp Greene, North Carolina, in 1918.