Main content
James Terrence McCabe letters
Notifications
Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. 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
Born on February 17, 1890, James Terrence McCabe served in the United States Army during World War I. He was stationed at Fort Lee, Virginia and in France during the end of the war. His wife, Joye Rapp, to whom he was engaged during his service, died in 1921. Mr. McCabe and his family were Catholic and from Easton, Pennsylvania. McCabe was a bookkeeper in the years following his service in the Army, working for John Schaible and Ingersoll Rand. He died in January 1975.
This collection contains letters to and from James Terrence McCabe, his family, fiancée, and neighbors, primarily written between July 1918 and August 1919, during his service as a private with the American Expeditionary Forces. The bulk of the letters are between McCabe and his future wife, Joye M. Rapp (who died in 1921). Others with whom McCabe frequently corresponded include his mother, sister Sadie, and various other female friends. There are also 45 assorted photographs of family and friends in both the United States and France, as well as a few newspaper clippings and miscellaneous documents and diary pages.
McCabe's letters concern his experiences while stationed at Fort Lee, Virginia and in France during the tail-end of the war and the year following the Armistice. The letters of his family and non-army friends address home-front life in Easton, Pennsylvania, including the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919. Several of the letters touch on issues of religion, as McCabe, his relations, and many of his friends were devout Catholics, and his future wife a Protestant.
The letters are arranged alphabetically by author of the letter.
Purchased in 2007.
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
- Finding Aid Author
- Nicole Love
- Finding Aid Date
- 2015 May 1
- Access Restrictions
-
This collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
-
Copyright restrictions may exist. For most library holdings, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania do not hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the requester to seek permission from the holder of the copyright to reproduce material from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.