John C.B. Moore Collection, 1915-1919
| Archives of the American Field Service and AFS Intercultural Programs




John Crosby Brown Moore was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1897. He joined the American Field Service (AFS) in 1916, serving as an officer and ambulance driver in Section Sanitaire [Etats-] Unis (SSU) 9 in Alsace-Verdun in France from July to December of that year, and then in Transport Matériel [Etats-] Unis (TMU) 526, also known as the Réserve Mallet, an AFS unit that transported munitions and supplies to the French army, from May to December 1917. AFS ceased to exist as an independent organization and was absorbed by the United States (U.S.) Army after the U.S. entered the war in 1917. Moore subsequently enlisted in the U.S. Expeditionary Forces, earning the rank of Second Lieutenant. In 1952, France awarded him the Legion of Honor, with the rank of Chevalier.
Upon completion of his service overseas, Moore graduated from Harvard in 1920 andearned a diploma in architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1927. In 1937, he founded the Manhattan architecture firm Moore & Hutchins with his business partner Robert S. Hutchins. Moore remained active in the firm until his retirement in 1972. The prominent firm was known for designing many campuses and university buildings. Moore also taught design at Columbia University from 1936 to 1944, and contributed a chapter on colleges and universities to the architectural guide The Forms and Functions of 20th-Century Architecture (Columbia University Press, 1952.) He was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and an associate of the National Academy of Design. He advised the New York Board of Education on the construction and design of schools, and in 1959 he was elected president of the Fine Arts Federation of New York.
John Crosby Brown Moore passed away in 1993.

American Field Service (American Ambulance Field Service)
American Field Service--Réserve Mallet
American Field Service--SSU 9
American Field Service--TMU 526
American Field Service--Transport Matériel [États-] Unis (TMU)
Camion drivers
Harvard University
Moore, John C.B. (John Crosby Brown), 1897-1993
Section Sanitaire [États-] Unis (SSU)
World War, 1914-1918
École des Beaux-Arts


The John C. B. Moore Collection includes one scrapbook, two wartime diaries, twenty-nine loose postcards, and twelve loose photographic prints.
The scrapbook contains photographic prints, maps, stamps, correspondence, postcards, and artwork reproductions clipped from a book. The photographic prints are captioned and were taken and/or assembled by John C.B. Moore during his service with Section Sanitaire [Etats-] Unis (SSU) 9 of the American Field Service (AFS) in Alsace-Verdun in France from July to December 1916. Images include landscapes, as well as portraits and candid shots of AFS members, soldiers, and civilians. The maps, stamps, correspondence, postcards and artwork reproductions in the scrapbook date from 1915 to 1919.
The two detailed daily diaries are handwritten on 3.75” x 6.75” unbound loose leaf paper. The first diary consists of 106 sheets of paper, written on both sides, and describes Moore’s daily life from June to December 1916, when he served with SSU 9 of AFS. This diary also includes a supplementary record of the wounded transported in Moore’s car. The second diary consists of 54 sheets of paper, written on both sides, and covers the period from May to December 1917 when Moore served with Transport Matériel [Etats-] Unis (TMU) 526 of AFS.
The collection also contains twenty-eight loose French postcards (depicting landscapes and ruins), nine loose photographs (4.6”x6.6”) depicting French soldiers, cannons, barracks and encampments (printed on the reverse side of copies of a 1917 French menu), two loose landscape photographs depicting the Hartmannswillerkopf battlefield site, one loose group photograph of members of SSU 9, and a postcard view of Thann, Alsace, all from 1916 and 1917.