New York State Education Dept. Division of Archives and History Working Files for a Publication on New York in World War I

Arranged roughly by subject.

This series consists of correspondence, memoranda, notes, reports, clippings, copies of legislative bills, and occasional photographs concerning the participation of New York State residents in World War I. Also included are copies of war histories prepared by other states (and apparently used as models for the New York work).

The files were collected by the State Historian, James Sullivan, in response to a joint resolution of the Senate and Assembly (1919) authorizing him to "collect, collate, compile, edit and prepare for publication sufficient materials, statistics and data for a history of the State of New York in the World War..." To advance this work, Sullivan requested material from local defense councils, major manufacturers in the state, libraries and historical societies, and private citizens. He also contacted state war councils, libraries, historical surveys, and war history commissions nationwide to provide models for the publication and funding of the work. When the immense scope of the undertaking became clear, he lobbied the legislature for funds. No funds were appropriated for the work and it was never completed.

The files contain: information on New York's response to the Liberty Loan campaigns, and details on ship production in the state; service data on New York residents who served in allied armies (especially Canadian and British); list of New York contractors for aircraft materials, giving name and address of contractor and type of article produced; historical summaries of U.S. Army divisions' activities during the war; report on the return of New York's war dead from Europe, and lists of Americans killed in action while serving with Canadian forces; catalogs of American Expeditionary Force official photographs taken by the U.S. Signal Corps, Photographic Section; copies of other states' reports on participation in the war (including California, Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia); copy of the pamphlet "Canada's Part in the Great War" published by the Canadian Department of Public Information (1919); copies of legislation from other states authorizing war memorials; minutes, correspondence, and reports of the National Association of State War History Organizations (James Sullivan served as president and member of the Executive Committee);

extensive news clippings covering the publicity engagements and promotional talks by Sullivan, accounts of the New York dead and wounded as reported by the War Department, and reports on the unveiling of war memorials; related memoranda, apparently originating with Sullivan, on cooperating with the Association of State War History Organizations to help with the work, promoting legislative appropriations to carry out the original joint resolution, coordinating volunteer aid through county publicity campaigns, and enlisting the support of the Commissioner of Education, John H. Finley; a small amount of memoranda relating to an aborted War Department plan for a pictorial history of munitions production, and also on work of local councils of defense to produce community honor rolls; correspondence with major New York manufacturers on providing summaries of their war work; a small number of photographs, including individual portraits of uniformed soldiers (sometimes with a copy of service record attached) or scenes in the field; and some photostatic reproductions and a smaller amount of original material produced by Cuyler Reynolds, Albany City Historian, for his work on "Albany Heroes of the World War".

Microfilm is available for use at the New York State Archives or through interlibrary loan.

High resolution images of selected original documents in this series are available in State Archives Digital Collections.

Series A0412 World War I Veterans' Service Data and Photographs contains related World War I materials.

Originally accessioned in old collection number 575, accession number 328, box 6, folders 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and box 7, folders 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9 and envelope 1.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.