American Legion Delaware Post 19 records
Collection
Identifier: MSS-029
Scope and Contents
This collection includes correspondence, directories, financial records, governing documents, handbooks, manuals, minutes, membership records, newsletters, newspaper clippings, photographs, programs, reports, scrapbooks and other material created and collected by the American Legion Delaware Post 19 in Muncie, Indiana ranging from 1919 to 1978 regarding the activities, administration, history, initiatives, and meetings of the local, state, and national branches of the American Legion.
Dates
- 1919-1978
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Legal title, copyright, and literary rights reside with Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries, Muncie, IN. All requests to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted to Archives and Special Collections.
Administrative History
The American Legion is a national organization which was first established by a group of twenty American Expeditionary Force officers, led by Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt Jr., at a 1919 meeting in Paris. Congress granted the group a charter as a patriotic veterans organization in September of that year. Membership in the organization is limited to those who have served honorably in wars in which the United States has played a role. The American Legion operates numerous advocacy initiatives and programs that serve veterans and the communities in which they and their families live.
Delaware Post 19 formed on August 10, 1920, just nine days after the state level department of the American Legion was chartered. The post and its members have been actively involved in advocating legislation in support of veterans, coordinating events and memorial services for local veterans, promoting civic education and awareness, sponsoring local athletic teams, and supporting other community services in Muncie and Delaware County. The first headquarters was located at 211 1/2 S. Walnut. In 1925, E. Arthur and Frances D. Ball donated land at 418 N. Walnut for use as a meeting place for the group. The donors requested that at the end of sixty years the land and the building thereon would be used as a war memorial or the land would revert back to the city of Muncie for use as a park. The building now has the official title of the Delaware County War Memorial Building and continues to serve as the Delaware Post 19 headquarters.
Delaware Post 19 formed on August 10, 1920, just nine days after the state level department of the American Legion was chartered. The post and its members have been actively involved in advocating legislation in support of veterans, coordinating events and memorial services for local veterans, promoting civic education and awareness, sponsoring local athletic teams, and supporting other community services in Muncie and Delaware County. The first headquarters was located at 211 1/2 S. Walnut. In 1925, E. Arthur and Frances D. Ball donated land at 418 N. Walnut for use as a meeting place for the group. The donors requested that at the end of sixty years the land and the building thereon would be used as a war memorial or the land would revert back to the city of Muncie for use as a park. The building now has the official title of the Delaware County War Memorial Building and continues to serve as the Delaware Post 19 headquarters.
Extent
4 Cubic Feet (: MSS.029 (10 boxes); P.006 (1 box); POVA.065 (1 box).)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Arranged in the following series and subseries:
Series 1: American Legion Delaware Post 19 administrative records, 1919-1973
Series 2: American Legion Delaware Post 19 convention program, reports and yearbooks, 1928-1974
Subseries 2.1: Indiana Annual Convention yearbooks and programs, 1928-1974
Subseries 2.2: National Convention brochures, programs and reports, 1932-1969
Series 3: American Legion Delaware Post 19 historical papers, 1919-1978
Series 4: American Legion Delaware Post 19 photographs, circa 1920-1960, 1974
P.006: American Legion Delaware Post 19 photographs, circa 1920-1960, 1974
POVA.065: American Legion Delaware Post 19 oversized photographs, 1928
Custodial History
This collection was compiled by Thomas Wescott, American Legion Post 19 Historian, and transferred from his widow to Wallace Lightner, American Legion Delaware Post 19 Third Vice President, after Thomas Wescott's death. It was received by Archives and Special Collections as a donation from Wallace Lightner on 1979/04/18.
Accruals
No further additions are expected.
Separated Materials
The following newspaper issues associated with this collection in legacy finding aids could not be located as a distinct series when the EAD finding aid was created in 2014. They appear to have been incorporated into separate, chronologically arranged newspaper files organized by publication sometime between 1992 and 2012.
Daily Worker, 1937/09/21
Muncie Evening Press, 1930/11/10, 1934/08/25, 1936/08/22
Muncie Morning Star, 1930/11/11
The Munsonian, 1943/04/09
Processing Information
Collection processing completed 1983/02/22 by David Tambo. Finding Aid revised 1992/01/27 by Nancy Turner. DACS compliant EAD finding aid created and arrangement revised 2014/02/26 by Stephen Jones.
- Correspondence Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Manuscripts Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Programs Subject Source: TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms
- Scrapbooks Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Stoeckel Archives of Local History Subject Source: Local sources
- Veterans Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- World War, 1914-1918 Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- World War, 1939-1945 Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Veterans Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- American Legion Delaware Post 19 records
- Status
- Completed
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Stoeckel Archives of Local History Repository
Contact:
Alexander M. Bracken Library
2000 W. University Avenue
Muncie Indiana 47306 USA
libarchives@bsu.edu
Alexander M. Bracken Library
2000 W. University Avenue
Muncie Indiana 47306 USA
libarchives@bsu.edu
