John G. Reid Collection, 1917-1935 | Archives of the American Field Service and AFS Intercultural Programs

The John G. Reid Collection contains one letter written to Reid by Harry Howard Webb Jr., one letter from Lucy de Maine to Thomas Means, and issues of the American Field Service Bulletin and Bulletin of the AFS Association.

The letter from Webb, also a former member of Reid’s AFS camion unit (TMU 133), is dated September 11, 1918, and contains updates about other former members of TMU 133.  Webb, who was with the United States Army Air Service at the time he wrote the letter, provides an account of an accident which caused him to lose his right hand, and also includes news about the death of a mutual friend, nicknamed “Grub,” in an airplane crash. The second letter in the collection was found among the Bulletin issues and is addressed from Lucy De Maine of the American Field Service Association to Thomas Means, a former camion driver in the American Field Service (TMU 526.)  The letter contains De Maine’s response to the request of Means for the December 1920 Bulletin produced by the AFS Association, as part of a larger project aimed at creating a bound copy of the Bulletins.  The letter also includes information on the transfer of records from the former AFS Boston office to the home of AFS Director General A. Piatt Andrew.  Accompanying the letter is a small paper, presumably containing notations from Means regarding his response to De Maine.

The collection also includes seven American Field Service Bulletins and thirteen Bulletins of the AFS Association, neither of which constitutes a full run of either Bulletin.  The American Field Service Bulletins are dated between September 1917 and July 1920, and were provided on a subscription basis.  These Bulletins include a letter from the editor, literature submissions by subscribers (such as poetry, essays, short stories and letters from former drivers), and section updates (such as section leader promotions, rules for transfer, citations administrative notices), among other general news. The final American Field Service Bulletin includes information regarding the newly-formed American Field Service Association, including meeting minutes, officers elected, a copy of the organization’s constitution, a recapitulation of the first AFS reunion (including banquet speeches, telegrams sent and received, attendance at the reunion according to AFS unit), a list of AFS Fellowships for French Universities recipients, and personal notes regarding AFS members. The Bulletins of the American Field Service Association are dated between July 1921 and March 1935, and include information regarding  AFS reunions and member milestones (including engagements, marriages, births and deaths), among other news.