North Carolina USO Clubs Records, WWII 6

The collection contains compiled histories, pamphlets, booklets, dance records, photographs, newsletters, and publications relating to operation of various USO clubs and the national USO during World War II. The bulk of the collection contains compiled histories of various USO clubs in North Carolina, arranged in alphabetical order by name of the town or city in which the club was found. The collection is arranged into three series based on the materials. The series are as follows: Series I: North Carolina USO Clubs Records; Series II: Richmond, Virginia: USO Club Materials; and Series III: National USO Records.

The collection is arranged in three series based on geography in relation to North Carolina, and is further arranged within each series based on the subject material of the items. Series are as follows:

Series I: North Carolina USO Clubs Records
Series II: Richmond, Virginia, USO Club Materials
Series III: National USO Records

Prior the United States' entrance into World War II in 1941, the state of North Carolina had some advocating in favor of a war records program to help document the world's engagement in this major event. No formal records collection program was begun until after December 1941. In February 1942, at the first meeting of the newly-reconstituted North Carolina Historical Commission, North Carolina Governor J. Melville Broughton stressed the importance of preserving the records of the state's part what they termed the "greatest of all wars." The governor requested the Historical Commission to undertake such a records collection program through the Department of Archives and History. The Commission instructed their chairman and secretary to make a study of the possibilities of conducting such a program, and to formulate methods of procedure for a statewide program. The chairman and secretary immediately set to work and drew up a plan, which was approved by all members of the North Carolina Historical Commission and presented to Governor Broughton.

While no special appropriation was made by the North Carolina General Assembly for this purpose then, the Historical Commission-by making readjustments in its staffing-was able to employ a full-time person to begin the collection of World War II records from around the state. In preparing is 1943-1945 biennial budget, the Historical Commission included the salary of an additional employee for the work, together with funds to cover travel, postage for sending and receiving materials, and other necessary expenses for the war records collection program.

The Historical Commission's proposals received the support of the governor, and were approved by the Advisory Budget Commission in its recommendations to the 1943 North Carolina General Assembly. In his regular message to the General Assembly, Governor Broughton specifically requested that the war records program receive adequate support. The requested appropriation was made and became available to the Historical Commission from the General Assembly on July 1, 1943. In the meantime, the Historical Commission had employed Elmer D. Johnson, formerly of the staff of the University of North Carolina's Library (now Wilson Library), on October 1, 1942. Johnson was assigned to work under the direction of the North Carolina Department of Archives and History's secretary, and was given the title of Collector of Records.

Elmer Johnson found that the first thing necessary was to plan the war records collection work in detail. He made a study of what other states had accomplished in this field during World War I, and had begun to do at the start of World War II. Johnson corresponded with leaders in this work throughout the nation; made a study of the North Carolina's World War I collection; and in general sought to obtain all possible information and advice in laying the ground work for the World War II records collection program. Sometime earlier there had been set up a state Committee on Conservation of Cultural Resources, with the Department of Archives and History's secretary serving as chairman. This committee was asked to serve in an advisory capacity in connection with North Carolina's war records program.

A meeting of the Committee, which consisted of leading librarians, archivists, historians, sociologists, and others in a position to advise, was held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on November 12, 1942. Former World War I records collector for North Carolina, Robert B. House, described his experiences and accomplishments in WWI, and various aspects of the proposed WWII records program were discussed.

The Committee on Conservation agreed that the WWII records collecting should be on as broad a basis as possible, and that it would be wisest to collect everything practicable relating to the war and North Carolina. Later it was felt that materials having no value as part of the collection could be discarded; the thinking was that it would be better to collect too much than too little, and miss the opportunity to preserve an important aspect of the war's history. The North Carolina Department of Archives and History's Chapel Hill conference was of great value in outlining the broad principles to be followed later in carrying out the records collection program. Early in December 1942, the North Carolina Office of Civilian Defense agreed to cooperate with the Department in this work. Elmer Johnson, while keeping his office in the Department quarters and continuing to hold the title of Collector of Records there, was also named Coordinator of War Records for the North Carolina Office of Civilian Defense.

According to the procedure which had been decided upon, the North Carolina county defense council chairmen appointed individuals within each county to serve as the county's collector of war records. In a number of the larger counties, assistant war records collectors were asked to handle various phases of the work or to cover different parts of the county. The program received the cordial support of the North Carolina Director of Civilian Defense, Robert L. McMillan, together with his office staff and field representatives.

The war records campaign received the endorsement of many statewide and local organizations, including the following: North Carolina Society of County Historians; North Carolina Library Association; North Carolina Press Association; State Literary and Historical Association; North Carolina Society for the Preservation of Antiquities; Garden Clubs of North Carolina; North Carolina Federation of Home Demonstration Clubs; State Federation of Music Clubs; Lions Clubs of North Carolina; North Carolina Congress of Parents and Teachers; North Carolina Department of the American Legion; Institute of Government; North Carolina Commission on Interracial Co-operation; Society of Mayflower Descendants; and the North Carolina Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

On the local level, assistance was obtained for the state's war records collection program from community chambers of commerce, civic clubs, patriotic chapters, and teachers' and other organizations. It was recognized at the beginning that there were certain records which could not be included in such a collection-at least not at during the war's operation. The records of various federal, state, and local governmental agencies were in most cases a part of the regular official records series of these agencies. These records could not be transferred to any such public records collection program for the war, until the materials were no longer required for daily operations of the war effort.

On February 15, 1943, Charlie Huss, who had formerly held an administrative position with the Work Projects Administration and also the Federal Works Agency in North Carolina, was employed as Elmer Johnson's successor as Collector of Records. She was given the title of Collector of Records for the Historical Commission, and Assistant Coordinator of State Department of Archives and History War Records for the Office of Civilian Defense (with the secretary of the Commission now serving as Coordinator of War Records for the Office of Civilian Defense). Huss saw clearly that it would be impossible to direct a properly conducted program from a desk in the state capital of North Carolina. She believed that it was essential to visit the various counties in order to make sure that the local programs were properly inaugurated and handled. Huss began immediately upon starting her position to make trips to different parts of the state, usually visiting several counties on each trip. At first, she traveled by public carrier, but this proved too difficult and so wasteful of her time that the necessary arrangements were made for her to travel by automobile. It was realized that it would be impossible to secure complete records from all the state's one hundred counties. Since the work was entirely voluntary, with no compensation whatsoever to those at the county level, it was obvious that in some counties an enthusiastic response would be obtained, while in others little or nothing would be done. At the beginning, an attempt was made to launch a program in every county, but later attention tended to be concentrated on those counties which had shown their willingness to cooperate with the North Carolina Department of Archives and History.

While such a plan left something to be desired in that the war records collection would not be complete, it was impracticable to carry on an active campaign in every North Carolina county.
An effort was made, however, to see that the work was actively conducted in at least one county in every major section of the state: the Tidewater, the bright leaf tobacco belt, the cotton-growing counties, the Piedmont manufacturing area, and the mountain district. Likewise, Charlie Huss undertook to cover certain key counties where particularly important war activities were being carried on. In July 1943, the additional funds appropriated by the North Carolina legislature became available. Nell Hines, formerly a teacher of history with a master's degree in history from Columbia University, was employed to assist in the North Carolina war records collection program.

This made it possible for Huss to spend a large part of her time in the field, and by the end of 1945, she had visited 85 counties and towns in every part of North Carolina. Huss held conferences with local collectors and their assistants, setting up committees, arranging group meetings, addressing various gatherings, enlisting the co-operation of the local newspapers, and arousing public interest in the work.

The records of African-American communities, military personnel, schools, businesses, universities and colleges, and other groups, in North Carolina (which constituted 27% of the state's total population during WWII) did not receive sufficient attention in most localities from the local populations in regards to records collection program. A special arrangement was made late in 1943 between the North Carolina Department of Archives and History with Dr. John Hope Franklin, of the then North Carolina College for Negroes' Department of History in Durham, North Carolina (present-day North Carolina Central University), in which Dr. Franklin agreed to head the program for the collection of North Carolina's African-American war records for the state.

The United Services Organizations (USO) was established on February 4, 1941, at the recommendation of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to provide entertainment and recreation for soldiers away from home. Established as a private non-profit, volunteer organization, the USO at its height in 1944 operated 3,035 clubs and canteens across the United States. The USO was comprised of six separate organizations: The Salvation Army; Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA); Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA); the National Catholic Community Services (NCCS); the National Traveler's Aid Association; and the Jewish Welfare Board (JWB). The six organizations would be charged with running each club by recruiting volunteers, while the military provided building supplies, locations and labor when needed. Many clubs were housed in YMCA buildings or in community centers in portions of the pre-existing buildings.

Due to the numerous military bases in North Carolina in WWII, the USO was an important part of the war effort. During World War II, North Carolina hosted 103 USO clubs in 47 different communities. In their down time, U.S. soldiers would travel to nearby USO clubs to dance, write letters, and watch shows put on by the club. Many women participated in the war effort by volunteering to help at USO clubs as hostesses and junior hostesses, dancing with the men, serving food, putting on event programming, and serving in various other capacities. At the conclusion of WWII, as part of the war records collection effort of the State Archives of North Carolina, various clubs sent their operational records and compiled histories to the State Archives.

1. North Carolina USO Clubs Records

2. Richmond, Virginia, USO Club Materials

3. National USO Records