North Carolina Draft Records, WWI 3

[Item name or title], [Box and Folder Numbers], North Carolina Draft Records, WWI 3, WWI Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.

The North Carolina Draft Records is composed of correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, booklets, posters, reports, official draft records and draft reports, and typed copies of soldiers' death records copied from the North Carolina Adjutant General's Office. Also included in this collection are the recruiting posters and various materials utilized by various military branches, including the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, the Marine Corps, and the North Carolina National Guard. Additionally, this collection contains records on the military deserters and draft evaders for various counties in North Carolina; there are also case documents and correspondence related to the efforts of officials to arrest individual deserters and draft evaders. Although many of these documents are undated, the majority of the documents range in date from 1917 to 1920. The collection is divided into four series: Series I: Local Draft Board Records; Series II: Recruiting in North Carolina; Series III: Deserters and Draft Evaders; and Series IV: Oversized Materials.

This collection is arranged into four series; Series I: Local Draft Board Records; Series II: Recruiting in North Carolina; Series III: Deserters and Draft Evaders; and Series IV: Oversized Materials.

The North Carolina Historical Commission (the precursor of the State Archives of North Carolina) recognized at the beginning of the United States' involvement in World War I the importance for North Caroling to begin an effort of collecting materials which documented the role taken by North Carolina soldiers and civilians in the war. In cooperation with the North Carolina Council of Defense, a special history committee, called the "Historical Preservation" committee, was appointed by the Council of Defense. The Historical Preservation committee consisted of the North Carolina Historical Commission Secretary Robert Digges Wimberly (or R. D. W.) Connor, as chairman; Haywood Parker of Asheville, North Carolina; Ms. Adelaide Fries of Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Paul W. Schenck of Greensboro, North Carolina; Edgecombe County-native George Gordon Battle, who was one of the leading lawyers in New York City at the outbreak of WWI; Ms. Lida T. Rodman; and J. G. deR. Hamilton of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The Council of Defense Historical Preservation committee's mission was to collect for permanent preservation the war records of the state of North Carolina. The term "war records" was given the widest possible interpretation, so as to include all materials that illustrate the state of mind of the citizens of North Carolina toward World War I; the effect of the war on social, educational, economic, agricultural, political and religious conditions; and the personal achievements, sacrifices, and services of North Carolina individuals in the war. Efforts were made by the North Carolina Historical Commission to secure the cooperation of such organizations as the State and County Councils of Defense; the State and County Fuel Administrations; the State and County Food Administrations; the American Red Cross; and other organizations engaged in work connected with the World War I preparedness and support efforts of the United States.

The Historical Preservation committee and the North Carolina Historical Commission urged these institutions, organizations, and members of the public to preserve carefully their records, and ultimately deposit them with the North Carolina Historical Commission. Efforts were also made to secure assistance in this work through the appointment in each county of a county historian for war purposes. However, these efforts were not particularly successful, as resources and people were stressed throughout the war at the local level in North Carolina. Individuals willing to work as volunteer war record collectors were secured in sixty counties. These individuals promised to aid in the historical preservation work of the committee, but only a few of them had been active throughout World War I.

Not much could be accomplished in terms of collecting war materials, however, due to a lack of funding and the lack of a law by the North Carolina State Legislature indicating a state-backed collection program. From 1917 to 1919, the State Legislature was not in session, and this scenario could not be remedied. However, in 1919 the State Legislature formally approved the North Carolina Historical Commission's war records collection efforts with the passage of Chapter 144 of the North Carolina Public Laws and Resolutions (specifically Sections 3 and 4) in 1919. The new law empowered the Historical Commission to appoint a collector of World War records, and provided money for the project's support.

Acting under authority of this law, the Historical Commission chose Mr. Robert B. House Collector of World War Records, and House entered upon his work June 19, 1919. On taking up his duties, House found that the Historical Preservation committee of the State Council of Defense (through a system of volunteer collecting in various counties of the state), and Col. Fred A. Olds (North Carolina Historical Commission Hall of History Collector) had already collected a large amount of war materials. House tried to systemize the collection process and network of volunteer collectors around North Carolina. House and a part-time stenographer worked to copy information from original materials; label, classify, and identify original materials; and operate a continuous correspondence network with individuals throughout the state and with federal war-time government offices.

One of House's first tasks was to survey all possible sources of information concerning North Carolina in the World War to be found in the National Archives; in departments of the North Carolina government; and among the various county organizations and individuals of North Carolina. Having found other states in America were performing the same records collection work during the war, in September, 1919, representatives from several states met in Washington, D.C., to organize what became the National Association of State War History Organizations. This was a cooperative enterprise financed by a membership fee of $200, paid by each member state organization. The North Carolina Historical Commission became a member of this association. This organization assisted North Carolina and House in standardizing war records collection policies and procedures.

In North Carolina's government departments, House found that the correspondence and published documents from the years 1917 to 1920 would be essential for documenting the state's role in World War I; but, those documents still held an administrative value in their respective government offices during the war and could not be released to the North Carolina Historical Commission for preservation. House strongly advocated with the heads of each office the necessity of preserving their records for the war years, until such time as they could be released to the Historical Commission. The records produced by county organizations and individuals in North Carolina were found to be in a chaotic state. In many cases, officials of various war-work organizations in the state had destroyed their records immediately upon the signing of the armistice ending World War I, under the impression that these records were of no further value. In many cases, they had kept no complete records during the course of the war.

While in a majority of the counties of North Carolina, volunteer collectors had agreed to bring together material for the Historical Preservation committee and the Council of Defense, they had in reality done little systematic work to organize their materials or save them. By letters and personal visits, House prevailed on most of these volunteer collectors to continue their connection with the North Carolina Historical Commission. In addition, House secured in sixty-two counties of the state African-American representatives to gather information and materials pertaining to African Americans in World War I (though few of these records were transferred to the Historical Commission after the war ended). Following up this effort to organize volunteer collectors, House held in Raleigh, North Carolina, on February 4, 1920, a conference of volunteer war records collectors, in order to emphasize what documents ought to be preserved and methods of preserving them.

House noted in his 1920 report to the North Carolina Historical Commission that the best county war records collection results around the state were achieved in Orange, Guilford, Mecklenburg, Cumberland, Halifax, Hyde, Wilkes, and Warren counties. The variance in the efforts of the volunteer county war collectors explains why for some counties-such as Rutherford and Forsyth counties-there are more records related to draft enlistment, draft desertion, and military service recruitment in certain North Carolina counties than others.

Gift, This collection was acquired in multiple parts by the North Carolina Historical Commission from 1918 to 1930, with a single addition between 1954 and 1956. The bulk of the collection (Series I) was acquired by Fred A. Olds, collector for the North Carolina Historical Commission's Hall of History, prior to the publication of the 1918-1920 North Carolina Historical Commission Biennial Report. This acquisition was described in the report under the heading Local Exemption Boards as "Local Board reports, about 2,000 pieces, containing the lists of drafted men from each county, obtained by Col. P. A. Olds. Miscellaneous material as follows: Photographs; list of inducted men and letters of the Hyde County Board; Account of the Carteret County Board; Information concerning the draft in Hyde, Caldwell, Stokes, Chowan, Graham and Franklin counties; History of the Draft Board for Beaufort and Halifax counties."The records on deserter-a complete file of the deserters from North Carolina as published by the War Department and the Congressional Record-was received from the federal government prior to the publication of the 1920-1922 North Carolina Historical Commission Biennial Report in 1922. Also by the publication of the 1920-1922 Biennial Report, the Historical Commission had received the bulk of the local draft board draft enlistment records from the county draft boards-what is now Series I in WWI 3. The local draft enlistment records were originally "alphabetized by race, names, and counties, for binding," and contained the names of about 55,100 North Carolinians inducted into military service in World War I.One of the last items from this collection received as a donation by the North Carolina State Department of Archives and History according to the 1954-1956 Biennial Report was a "List of men ordered to report to Rutherford County Local Board for Military Duty, 1917-18," a notebook containing the records of Rutherford County's Draft Board operations during World War I. The record was donated Clarence W. Griffin, a Rutherford County newspaper editor, Rutherford County historian, and later member of the North Carolina Historical Commission.All of the materials in this collection were acquired or collected as part of the North Carolina Historical Commission's on-going World War historic materials collection project, which was authorized by Sections 3 and 4 of Chapter 144 of the North Carolina Public Laws and Resolutions in 1919.