United States History - World War II (Gold Star Mothers and Widows), 1929-1933

Biographical / Historical

The Gold Star pilgrimages of 1930 to 1933 recognized the sacrifices of mothers and widows who chose burial in an overseas American military cemetery for their sons or husbands. All mothers and unremarried widows of someone buried or memorialized at an overseas American military cemetery received an invitation for an official government funded pilgrimage to visit their loved ones' graves.

Scope and Contents

Includes 1930 coverage of the pilgrimage of the first group of Gold Star Mothers and Widows to Paris, France. The pilgrimage included 54 colored American war mothers who arrived in a jim crow freighter.

Extent

2 folders

Dates

Creation: 1929-1933

Document Types

Clippings, Correspondence, Note

Additional Description

Arrangement

Arrangement of the General File series is alphabetical by subject, with document types and material from across the AFRO's regional offices interfiled. Subjects are primarily original description assigned by the creators of the collection over the history of its creation and use.

Terminology used in original folder titles evolved across many offices and generations of staff, resulting in similar collection content filed under varying terms. Researchers may benefit from searching a variety of related subjects and names.

Processing Information

This series has been processed using detailed processing procedures. Folders have been sorted alphabetically by folder title, metal printing plates (called cuts), and oversized and legal-sized documents have been rehoused, damaged folders have been replaced, and the content of thick folders has been divided into multiple folders for physical stabilization.

Detailed processing also means that archivists have verified legacy description that was created before the processing project that began in 2023, and in many cases additional information has been added, including biographical notes about the subject of the folder, and scope and content notes that describe folder content. Married women's names that were omitted from legacy description have been added when found in folder content. Folder records have been updated with the date range of their content and all the document types found in each folder, so searches of folders in this series can be refined by date and document type.

Researchers may still discover errors or gaps in the description, or folders that need content warnings or notes about documents found in fragile condition. Archives staff welcome information about such issues to help us improve collection description.