Charles Bailey Reed scrapbooks and photographs, 1914-1924 and undated, bulk bulk 1918-1919

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Summary

Creator:
Reed, Charles Bailey
Abstract:
Radiologist who served in the U.S. American Expeditionary Forces Medical Corps during World War I; originally from Newburgh, Orange County, New York. Collection contains a few pieces of correspondence, telegrams, military orders, booklets, photographs and negatives, and ephemera collected by Captain Charles Bailey Reed during his service with the U.S. Medical Reserve Corps in France, 1918-1919. The items are mounted in two French-made scrapbooks or housed in loose groups. Materials relate to Reed's time as a medical radiologist at Evacuation Hospital Number One, Sebastopol Barracks, Toul, France. Hundreds of photographs, both loose and mounted, were taken by Reed in the U.S., 1914, 1918, 1924, and in Paris, 1918-1919, and in the Evacuation Hospital camp, 1918-1919. Commercially published photographs depict battle scenes and damage in France. Other items include newspapers reports of the Armistice; images from the Paris Inter-Allied Games, summer 1919; printed items produced for American soldiers stationed in France; and Reed's identity card. Acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University.
Extent:
3.0 Linear Feet (7 boxes)
approx. 1000 items
Language:
Material chiefly in English; some items in French, German
Collection ID:
RL.01074

Background

Scope and content:

The Charles Bailey Reed scrapbooks and photographs date from 1914-1924, with the bulk dating from Reed's military service in France from 1918-1919. Materials include correspondence, military orders, postcards, newspaper articles, printed matter, photographic prints and negatives, and ephemera collected by Reed during his tour in France. Topics of interest include medical care and field hospitals during World War I; medical transport; cities in France and damages incurred during the war; and the Armistice and related events in France, including the Inter-Allied Games, Paris, summer of 1919, seen through the eyes (and camera) of Captain Reed.

Most of the material was mounted by Reed in two large scrapbooks, but there was also loose material found at the end of the scrapbooks which has been rehoused, and there are also many loose photographic prints and negatives. Materials are arranged in series by format and roughly chronologically within.

Printed materials and ephemeral items include newspapersand clippings; military bulletins and orders; information produced for American soldiers stationed in France; souvenir programs; ration cards, coupons, and receipts; and Reed's military identity papers. The newspapers consist of the front page of the newspapers, with a few containing additional pages. There are also a few items in German - correspondence and military publications - of unknown origins.

There are hundreds of small black-and-white photographs in the collection, both loose and mounted in the scrapbooks, most deriving from Reed's medical service in France from 1918-1919. In a few cases they are accompanied by negatives. There are images probably taken by Reed or a fellow soldier, and a large group of what appear to be commercially-made images with captions in white lettering; some of the latter are dated 1914 and depict the British front in France (Alsace, Verdun), damaged buildings (including churches and cathedrals), battlefields, cemeteries, French and British soldiers in trenches and camps, dead soldiers (many of whom are German), and biplanes (including downed planes).

Reed's personal photographs depict camps, soldiers' quarters, military vessels, ceremonies, tourist sites, and damaged buildings; there is one picture taken at Fort Riley, Kansas. The centerpiece of the photographs is a large series of images from Evacuation Hospital No. 1, Sebastopol Barracks, in Toul, France; these show camp buildings, hospital interiors, wounded soldiers in the surgery, soldiers and officers, and vehicles used for medical transport. There is one image of what appears to be prisoners of war marching in a group. Other place names include Verdun, Alsace, Rheims, Paris, Marseilles, Cannes, and Avignon; there are some images from Alpine regions bordering Italy. One group of earlier photos is labeled "Watkins Glen, N.Y., 1918," and date from before Reed's July embarcation for Europe. Additionally, there are later photos taken in 1924 of Pine Plains military camp in New York State, now part of Fort Drum.

Acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University.

Biographical / historical:

Charles Bailey Reed was born in 1893 in Washingtonville, Orange County, New York, and grew up in Blooming Grove, N.Y. As a young man he studied medicine in an unidentified school, and began military service in August 1917.

Reed's expertise in the pioneering field of "Roentgenology," as it was known then, or radiology, was put to critical use on the World War battlefields in France, particularly his specific knowledge of the assembly and use of portable X-Ray equipment; several clippings refer to him as he accompanied the vehicles and equipment as they were paraded and inspected by military officials in the eastern US and Canada before being shipped off to Paris, along with Charles Reed. He served in the Army until 1919, with a final rank as Captain.

He married in 1920 and continued his profession as a physician. He died in 1973 in Newburgh, N.Y.

Acquisition information:
The Charles Bailey Reed scrapbooks and photographs were received as a transfer by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library in 2011.
Processing information:

Processed by Willeke Sandler, May 2012

Encoded by Willeke Sandler and Paula Jeannet, September 2012 and April 2017

No accession number is available.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Charles Bailey Reed scrapbooks and photographs, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.