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Louis D. Blass letters to Mary M. Sidari
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Held at: Drexel University: Archives and Special Collections [Contact Us]W. W. Hagerty Library, 3300 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Drexel University: Archives and Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Louis D. Blass (1918-2009) served in the Army during World War II. He was on a combat team which prior to being a subsector of the Philadelphia Harbor Patrol was part of the 44th division. By 1944 he was a Captain and fought overseas where he received two purple hearts.
Louis D. Blass became friends with Mary M. (Sidari) Fedullo (1922-2006) around 1938. Both Blass and Sidari were from Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Sidari graduated from the Drexel Institute in 1943 with a bachelor’s degree in Home Economics and a major in dietetics.
This collection contains seven letters, one Valentines Day card and one postcard all written by Louis D. Blass to Mary M. Sidari between 1940 and 1944. During this time Sidari was an undergraduate student at Drexel residing in the dormitory, Van Renssaelear Hall and Blass was in the army stationed in New Jersey before going overseas to France and Germany.
The context of Blass’ letters indicates that Sidari is responding and that periodically they are seeing each other in person. The letters also indicate that there are additional letters between the two and that this collection is not comprehensive, nor is it a complete string.
The content of the letters describes daily mundane affairs, such as the weather, sports games, visits home, details of their friendship and army news.
This collection provides insight into friendship and communication between young adults during World War II.
In 1996-1997 Jen Calvert, of the Residential Living Office received these letters which were delivered by mail to the Van Rensselaer Hall. Mary M. Sidari was a student at Drexel who lived in Van Rensselaer in the 1940s. Louis Blass sent these letters to her. Each arrived sepearately, already opened in 1996-1997. Jen Calvert attempted to give the letters to the sender or the receiver and learned that both were deceased. Calvert held on to the letters and gave them to Erin O'Boyle upon leaving Drexel in February 2010. Erin O'Boyle donated the letters to the Archives on August, 19, 2010.
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- Drexel University: Archives and Special Collections
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- Finding aid prepared by Laurie Rizzo
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research use.