Scope and Content Note
The papers of Kary Cadmus Emerson (1918-1993) span the years 1937-1994. The collection touches on all periods of Emerson’s career in the United States Army, both as an officer (1939-1966) and as a civilian (1966-1978), but the most extensive and substantive material focuses on his time as a prisoner of war (POW) during World War II from April 1942 to September 1945. A grouping of correspondence contains letters saved by Emerson, his wife, Mary Rebecca (“Rebecca”), and his parents, Diva E. and Earl E. They include the letters K. C. Emerson sent to his wife from Zentsuji prisoner of war camp in Shikoku, Japan, between 1943 and 1945, telegrams and letters she received from the War Department with information about his status and location and instructions on how to communicate with prisoners of war in Japan. Also included are letters she received from people who heard over shortwave radio a recorded message from K. C. Emerson that he made in late 1943 but was broadcast on Japanese radio in January 1944. A digital recording of that radio message is also part of the collection, as is a recorded message that Emerson sent to Rebecca after his release in 1945. Emerson received letters from his wife, parents, and other family members in 1944 that were written in 1943. The date of receipt is noted in pencil on each one. Small photographs of Rebecca and their young son, William, who he had never met, once enclosed in letters, are filed in a grouping of photographs.
Other items from this period include seven notebooks in which Emerson recorded details, timelines, lists, and information about the Philippines, the Twelfth Quartermaster Regiment (Philippine Scouts), and his subsequent POW experience. In two of the numbered notebooks, books 3 and 6, Emerson recorded recipes for favorite foods discussed by the hungry, malnourished prisoners in Zentsuji POW camp. A 1965 compilation of some of these recipes, “The Quan Cookbook,” is included in a group of writings. Emerson used the backs of letters he received as notepaper and inserted them in Book 6 of the notebooks. Photocopies of these letters are filed with the other correspondence. Emerson’s unpublished memoir of his POW experience is chronicled in two versions. “My First Tour of Japan,” written in 1970, begins in fall of 1942 when Emerson left POW Camp Number 3 near Cabanatuan, the Philippines, and was taken by ship to Japan, where he spent the rest of the war in POW camps. Photographs and maps accompany his text. “Guest of the Emperor,” (1977), tells the full story of his POW experience, fromhis account of the Bataan Death March in April 1942 up to his release in September 1945.
Emerson's impressions of the Philippines and details of life there in 1941 are expressed in letters to his parents and an album of photographs. A military papers section and photographs document other periods in his military career. Some of the most substantive material pertains to meetings of the joint observer teams in which he participated when assigned to the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission in Korea, (1958-1959). Bound volumes of memorabilia largely feature items saved from his years as assistant for research in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (R & D), a position he held before he retired from the army and as a civilian.
Trained in medical entomology, Emerson remained active in the field of entomology as an avocation throughout his life, becoming a renowned expert on lice. A bibliography of his writings and copies of his published articles on Anoplura (sucking lice) and Mallophaga (chewing lice), dating from 1940 to 1990, document this aspect of his life.
A 2024 addition complements the other material in the papers and provides additional documentation of his pursuits in entomology. Among this material are his master’s thesis and dissertation from his academic studies in the field and his 1979 unpublished memoir, "Lice in My Life," in which he describes his experiences over more than forty years and provides an overview of developments in lice research. Also included are documents pertaining to the donation of his personal research collection of specimens to Oklahoma State University as well as specimen lists. Other items in the addition include biographical information, certificates, and photographs that document his career in the military and other accomplishments and activities.