Featured Image: WWII letter, Apr. 24, 1943: CARLI Digital Collections

From The WWII Letters of Annette Dyar Sherman (Eureka College) in CARLI Digital Collections Annette wrote to her parents from college and then from Arlington, Va., and New York City about everything from dating and getting along with roommates to managing her finances and voting. The letters are sprinkled with references to World War II, including Victory gardens, coal shortages, and her brothers in the service. This collection of 183 letters written 1942-1946 provides rich primary information about American wartime society. The accumulation of details also reveals the personality of the author as an intelligent young woman with a sense of humor and adventure. Annette wrote the letter featured above right before she moved to Arlington for a Civil Service job with the Signal Corps. I think this excerpt from it sort of sums up her outlook on life:

“I'm pretty hard to scare out of doing something I want to … at least I'll be doing some important work there, and also I'll be getting out and seeing the world … for my own good I don't think I should stay in one place forever.”

The collection also includes photographs of Annette in the 1940s. Written by Mary Rose, Metadata Librarian at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. For more information about this and other CARLI Digital Collections, visit http://collections.carli.illinois.edu To learn more about becoming part of CARLI Digital Collections and using CONTENTdm, see http://www.carli.illinois.edu/index.php?page=contentdm and http://wiki.carli.illinois.edu/index.php/Portal:CONTENTdm.