A. Lowell Randall papers and photographs

This collection is comprised of about 250 letters written by A. Lowell Randall from July 14, 1942 to October 18, 1945 while he served in the United States Army in World War II. All the letters are directed to Mr. Randall's mother, Bessie Brooks Montgomery (Randall) Unkart, at her bakery in Bowling Green, Ohio. Mrs. Unkart owned and operated the bakery after Albert K. Randall, her first husband, died in 1934.

With the exception of a gap from August 1942 to July 1944 the letters run almost daily. They provide information on Mr. Randall's daily activities while stationed at Camps Harrison and Atterbury, in Indiana. The gap in chronology appears when he moves from Atterbury to Camp Shanks, in New York, and continues while he is in Algiers, North Africa until his arrival in Naples, Italy. The letters recommence, with a second, minor gap from August 9-23, 1945 while he was in transit from Naples to Okinawa.

In his capacity as a podiatrist, Mr. Randall was part of the Army's support services. His letters indicate the intermittent times of activity and intervening stretches of boredom and inactivity. The generality of most of the letters also provides some indication of the impact of censorship, especially in comparison to the more informative, opinionated letters written in Okinawa, Japan without censorship.

Physically, the letters are very legible, despite the fact that some were photographically reproduced and reduced in the form of V-Mail.

The research historian will find in these letters a source of vast amounts of information on the daily activities of a support serviceman, including the breadth of diversions available to him during inactive periods and leave time. The letters also give an indication of Mr. Randall's impression of the home front from his perspective overseas, and of his interaction with native Italians.

Mr. Randall's correspondence with his mother also inadvertently presents information on her bakery in Bowling Green, specifically regarding the difficulties and changes she made as a result of the war. This information may prove interesting and valuable to the Women's Studies historian.

The collection also includes letters exchanged between A. Lowell Randall and his wife Dorothy L. (Avery) Randall during A. Lowell's service in Naples; letters from A. Lowell's sons John M. and Albert K. Randall dating from 1968-1970 during their military service in Vietnam and Germany; and nearly 300 photographs taken primarily in Naples, Italy and Okinawa, Japan during A. Lowell Randall's World War II service.