Whitney B. Wright Collection, ca. 1916-1919
| Archives of the American Field Service and AFS Intercultural Programs
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Arrangement
Abstract
Administrative/Biographical History
On May 19, 1917, Whitney Braymer Wright of Camden, New Jersey entered the American Field Service (AFS), a volunteer ambulance and camion organization serving alongside the French military in World War I. From May through November Wright served as a camion driver with Transport Matériel [Etats-] Unis (TMU) 133, a unit engaged in the transportation of munitions and supplies for the French military. After the United States (U.S.) entered World War I in 1917, AFS was absorbed by the U.S. military and ceased to exist as an independent organization. At that time, Wright enlisted in the United States Motor Transportation Corps (USMTC) as a Private, and later attained the rank of Sergeant.
Wright received the American Field Service medal on May 3, 1919 for his service with AFS during the war.
Subjects (links to similar collections) Administrative Information
The Whitney B. Wright Collection consists of loose photographs and one scrapbook, the bulk of which contains photographic prints of varying sizes (1 ¾” x 2 ½” - 3 ½” x 5 ¾”) documenting his service with the American Field Service (AFS) and later the United States Motor Transportation Corps (USMTC) during World War I. The scrapbook was probably assembled by Wright, and includes group and candid shots of men in his unit, camions, ruins, French troops, and the French countryside. The photographs depict Wright’s movement from New York (including images of the Statue of Liberty before embarking) through Jouaignes, Soissons, Longpont, Vailly, Reims, Meaux, Roye, Verdun, Le Mans, and Paris during his time with AFS and the USMTC. While the bulk of the photographs in the scrapbook were taken during World War I, there are also some in the final pages of the album that include Wright with his wife and daughters, as well as photographs of an undated American Field Service TMU 133 reunion after the war. About half the photographs in the scrapbook have handwritten captions directly on the photographs, though they are mostly undated. Several photographs have come loose from the album pages or are missing from their original spots in the scrapbook, though it is possible that some of the loose photographs found separately in the collection are the missing photographs from the scrapbook. The scrapbook also includes several loose items tucked between pages and non-photographic materials (some of which is written in French) which were pasted into the album, including Wright’s military orders, certification and transport documents, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and ephemera (business cards) from the war. Some of the unique documents within the album include a table of weights of munitions and orders for Wright to report as a witness during the trial of “John” (dated May 19, 1919.) The loose items include two photographs (10 ¾” x 8” and an 11 ½” x 9”) of the Rheims Cathedral, and a promotional document. The Rheims Cathedral photographs were tucked into the scrapbook page which includes another 8 ½ x 11 Rheims Cathedral photograph. The promotional document was originally found on the page near the photograph labeled “6 ‘B’ kitchen.”
In addition to the scrapbook, the collection also includes around sixty-five loose photographic prints and two French postcards (1916-1918). Five of the photographs depict Wright, and the others include images of French landscapes and ruins, German and French soldiers, and German artillery, some of which are dated before Wright’s entry into the American Field Service. These photographs also depict scenes and people from places he traveled to during the war including Soissons, Saint-Mihiel, Grandpré, Paris, Rheims, Champagne, and Verdun.