Thomas H. O'Connor Collection, 1917-1939 | Archives of the American Field Service and AFS Intercultural Programs

The Thomas H. O’Connor Collection consists of one album of photographic prints taken and/or assembled by Thomas Henry O’Connor, which document his service during World War I, and his passport, military orders, a handwritten chronology, postcards, loose photographs and a print reproduction of a portrait.

The photographic prints in the album depict scenes from O’Connor’s tours with Section Sanitaire [Etats-] Unis (SSU) 12 of the American Field Service from April to September 1917, and with the United States Naval Aviation Force from September 1917 to October 1918. Images include portraits, group and candid shots of men in his units, ambulances, tanks, zeppelins, barracks and views of French countryside, towns, and Paris.  About a quarter of the images have captions. The collection also includes a handwritten summary of O’Connor’s World War I service written by him in 1939 (signed “Thomas I. O’Connor” rather than “Thomas H. O’Connor”), and his military orders and French passport, all of which had been stored inside the front cover of the photographic album.  The collection also contains French and Italian postcards, postcards of the S.S. Chicago, nine loose photographic prints, and a printed portrait reproduction of French aviator Captain Georges Guynemer by Henri Farre, all of which had been stored inside the back cover of the photographic album.