Alfred and Lucille Kolkin papers
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Abstract
The Alfred and Lucille Kolkin papers span 1942 to 1965 and contain correspondence between Al and Lucy Kolkin during Al's Navy training and active service in the Pacific in World War II. The collection also includes handwritten training notes by Lucy Kolkin and official Navy publications from her employment at the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a ship fitter, along with employment records, identification badges, union membership materials, and miscellaneous personal papers.
Biographical Note
Alfred "Al" Kolkin and Lucille "Lucy" Gewirtz both grew up in the Brooklyn Jewish community of Bensonhust. Al Kolkin, born August 3, 1918, began his naval training as a U.S. Navy Radio Technician in Sampson, N.Y. (272 miles upstate on Seneca Lake in Seneca County) in 1944. He transferred to Chicago, IL for technician training, then to Del Monte, CA for further training. Kolkin shipped out of Oakland, CA in the summer of 1945 as a Radio Technician first class on the USS Patroclus, an auxiliary repair ship, and later received promotion to Radio Technician, second class. He was discharged from the Navy in January, 1946, and returned home to Brooklyn.
Lucy Gewirtz, born September 20, 1918, graduated from college and became employed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1942. Her notebook indicates that she received training as a ship fitter. She and Al Kolkin married on November 27, 1943, but the two may have first been acquainted in their community, since their mothers were friends. Lucy remained in Brooklyn while Alfred trained and went to sea, and lived with her parents at 8620 20th Avenue in Bensonhurst. Letters indicate that she planned to visit California in September of 1944 to be with Al during his stateside training but became ill and did not go or did not complete the trip. She apparently became employed in clerical office work as of 1945.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged chronologically.
Scope and Contents
The Alfred and Lucille Kolkin papers are made up of a single series grouped by subject and therein by chronological order, consisting of Al's letters to Lucy, 1944 to 1946; Lucy's letters to Al, 1944 to 1945; Lucy's training materials from her job as a ship fitter at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, 1942 to 1944; and employment records, identification badges, union membership materials, and miscellaneous personal papers, 1945 to 1965. Al's letters to Lucy offer descriptions of the training and life of a Navy Radio Technician during World War II, including descriptions of his travels and interactions with people in New York, Chicago, Northern California, and Japan. He wrote about books he read, movies he saw, his studies, V-J Day, anti-Semitic encounters, and newspaper clippings sent to him by Lucy and his sister, Mimi. Folder 2 also contains a letter from Al to Lucy's mother, and Folder 7 contains comments on personnel losses in the Pacific.
Lucy's letters to Al, whom she sometimes addressed as "Butch," provide descriptions of her daily life and work in Brooklyn. She updated him regularly on news about their family and friends and described her experiences as a working woman in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and as a secretary for the Midtown Manhattan Committee. The newly married couple addressed each other by endearments, nicknames, and Lucy used slangy Brooklyn colloquialisms.
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Conditions Governing Access
Open to researchers without restriction.
Conditions Governing Use
While many items at the Center for Brooklyn History are unrestricted, we do not own reproduction rights to all materials. Be aware of the several kinds of rights that might apply: copyright, licensing and trademarks. The researcher assumes all responsibility for copyright questions.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date (if known); Alfred and Lucille Kolkin papers, ARC.048, Box and Folder number; Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Alfred and Lucille Kolkin, 1990.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Originally minimally processed to the collection level, this collection was reprocessed to the file level by Alice Griffin in May 2026.
The collection combines the accessions 1990.009 and 1992.004. All folder titles provided by the archivist.
