WOMEN VETERANS HISTORICAL COLLECTION          

Winona Franklin Walker Collection, 1945-1946

#WV-0284

Name: Walker, Winona Franklin
Branch:  US Army Special Services Librarian
Served:  1945-1946

CONTENTS:  Artifacts, oral history interview, papers, photographs, and scrapbooks

ACQUISITION:  Gift of Winona Franklin Walker on July 9, 2003.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: Winona Walker was born in South Boston, Virginia, on August 9, 1908, the oldest of seven children. After graduating from State Teachers College in Harrisonburg, Virginia, she taught English and history for three years. Miss Walker attended library school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated in 1935.

After graduating from library school Miss Walker worked at the public library in Shelby, North Carolina, for eight years and then at the Post Hospital library at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, for two years.

While at Fort Bragg, she was approached by the Army Special Services to go overseas as a librarian. On August 18, 1945, Miss Walker left New York City for Europe. After arriving in Paris, France, for a week of training, she went to Oberammergau, Germany, for an additional week's training.

Miss Walker's first served in the Bremen Enclave as Command Librarian where she was responsible for the setting up, staffing, and supervising of several libraries in the enclave as well as a bookmobile. She also traveled extensively to Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Miss Walker returned to the United States in October 1946 and worked in Kecoughtan, Virginia, and Greenwood, South Carolina. She later found employment at the High Point Public Library in High Point, North Carolina, and then various school libraries in Greensboro, North Carolina. She retired from Jackson Junior High School's library and is currently living in Greensboro.

COLLECTION OVERVIEW:  This collection contains three scrapbooks, an oral history interview, textiles, and artifacts. The scrapbooks include a number of photographs, postcards of historical sites, travel brochures, and correspondence. One scrapbook contains pictures primarily of Bremen and Germany, the second scrapbook contains pictures and postcards from Miss Walker's travels to Denmark and Switzerland and the third contains more personal pictures and photographs/memorabilia from her stay in Bremen. The correspondence found in the scrapbooks has been removed for preservation purposes. The correspondence consists of letters to Miss Walker's mother and other members of her extensive family with only a few letters that she in turn received from her family.

LOCATION:
WINONA FRANKLIN WALKER COLLECTION

#WV-0284

Papers, Printed Materials, Photographs
Box 1     

Bremen Port Command Special Services Library Poster, 1945-1946,

  12-1/4” x 18-1/4” (see oversize box 2)
Christmas and Easter Cards, n.d.

Correspondence, 1945

Correspondence, 1946

Correspondence, 1947

Correspondence, 1948

Correspondence, 1949

Correspondence, 1950-1959

Correspondence, 1960-1964

“Hey George: If you’ve read that book return it to the library…”
    Poster,  10-7/8” x 14-7/8”  (see oversize box 2)      
Index of Correspondence, 1945-1946  

Library Building 24, watercolor and ink drawing, 1946 (Oversize Box 1)

Maps of Germany, 1944 and n.d.

Military Papers, 1945-1956

Photographs, 1945-1946

Special Services Badge Design, n.d.

“Special Service Library” Poster, 1945-1946
   10-5/8” x 16-1/8” (see oversize box 2)

Tour Souvenirs, n.d.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library School Alumni
   Association Bulletin, 1946

Box 2

Scrapbook 1: Bremen Port Command (newspaper clippings,

   postcards, and souvenirs); photocopies of several scrapbook pages with
   descriptive comments

Box 3
Scrapbook 2: European Travels (newspaper clippings,

   photographs, postcards, and souvenirs); photocopies of several scrapbook

   pages with descriptive comments

Box 4             
Scrapbook 3: Bremen and Germany (newspaper clippings,

   postcards, and souvenirs) 

Textiles and Artifacts

Overseas Cap with Special Services Patch, 1945-1946 (Box 10a

   Miscellaneous Hats)             
Special Services Patches (2), 1945-1946 (Artifact Box 2)                  
US War Department Identification Card, 1945 (Artifact Box 2)

Transcripts

Oral History Interview, July 9, 2003