Lawrence Newman papers
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
A small collection of ephemera and correspondence documenting the military career of New Yorker Lawrence Newman (1912–1985), a sergeant with the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II at Sheppard Air Force Base and Amarillo Army Air Field, both in Texas.
Biographical / Historical
Lawrence Newman was born in Manhattan on 27 April 1912 to Russian immigrants Reuben and Hanna Newman. Reuben Newman was a physician. Lawrence graduated from high school, and spent a year each at Columbia University and City College, where he studied retailing. At the time of his marriage to Doris Ballenberg in 1936, Newman worked for the advertising firm of Albert Frank-Guenther Law. Then, for five years, he supervised the direct mail and mail order departments for the Hecht Company, a department store chain.
In late December 1943 Newman received his Selective Service summons to report for induction into the armed forces. Effective 9 February 1944 he entered active duty as a member of the Enlisted Reserve Corps at Camp Upton, New York. By May Newman was at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, and by mid-June had been transferred to Amarillo Army Air Field. He spent the remainder of his enlistment at Amarillo, except for four weeks in June-July 1945, when he enrolled in an Enlisted Classification Training Program at Maxwell Field, Alabama. Newman worked as a clerk typist, a class specialist, and, ultimately, an administrative specialist, supervising the entrance, elimination, and graduation of enlisted men in an AAF Mechanics School. His rank rose from private, to corporal, to sergeant. He was honorably discharged at his highest rank on 5 February 1946 with an American Theater Ribbon, a Good Conduct Medal, and a World War II Victory Medal.
Lawrence Newman died 18 November 1985, aged seventy-three.
Arrangement
Material is sorted by category and filed chronologically.
Scope and Contents
Besides a few pieces of ephemera dating before and after his time in the military (see Folder 1), the bulk of Lawrence Newman's papers focus on the years 1940–1946, from his registration with the Selective Service (Folder 3), through his activities at Sheppard Air Force Base (Folder 6) and Amarillo Army Air Field (Folders 7–9), and ending with his honorable discharge on 5 February 1946 (Folder 12). Items of particular interest include the pamphlets So You've Got a Furlough? and Going Back to Civilian Life (Folder 10). The former offers servicemen blunt advice on spending money ("Stay out of clip joints"), remaining disease free ("Girls who make a habit of hanging around railroad and bus stations . . . are to be especially avoided"), and the pitfalls of contracting a half-baked marriage ("Don't mistake that gleam in her eye for love light when it may only be . . . anticipation of a nice, fat, Government Allotment check"). Three undated, instructional drawings show the approved method of "Latrine Cleaning," the proper "Alignment and Order of Clothing" in a barracks bunk, and how to correctly pack a footlocker (also in Folder 10).
Subjects
Organizations
Genres
Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers.
Use Restrictions
Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to 20 exposures of stable, unbound material per day. Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions.
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as: Lawrence Newman Papers, MS 3070, The New-York Historical Society.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Barbara Newman (daughter of Lawrence), 2013 and 2018.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Archivist Joseph Ditta arranged and described this collection in December 2018.
Repository
View Inventory
Non-military items, 1924-1951, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• One issue of The Minute Man, vol. 1, no. 8 (June 1924). Published by the Maintenance Company, Inc., Contracting Engineers, New York, N.Y.
• Six calendars issued by James F. Gillespie Co., Elevators, 20 Sixth Avenue, New York, N.Y., for the months of January-May, and July, 1925, featuring portraits of American inventors Benjamin Franklin, George Stephenson, Robert Fulton, Elias Howe, Samuel F. B. Morse, and Alexander Graham Bell.
• A folding business card for Streiffer's Pharmacy, 103 East 96th Street, Manhattan, printed with a calendar for 1939.
• A typed transcription of the description of "Uropophyrin I" from Roy R. Kracke, Diseases of the Blood (1941).
• Newman's membership card in the New York Fire Department Emergency Auxillary Corps (5 March 1942), with his armband insignia for the same (a red cross inside a white triangle inside a blue circle).
• United States Civil Service Commission Position Description for Price Specialist, Office of Price Stabilization (14 May 1951).
R.O.T.C. patches (3), circa 1932-1933, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Lawrence Newman was born in late 1912. According to his U.S. Army discharge papers (see Folder 12), he completed high school and two years of college, leaving school in 1933. If he graduated from high school about 1931, these R.O.T.C. patches probably date from his subsequent time at Columbia University or City College.
Selective Service, 1940-1944, inclusive
Scope and Contents
A registration certificate, notices of classification, and correspondence from Local Board No. 28 of the Selective Service (250 West 90th Street, Manhattan) directing Lawrence Newman to report for a physical examination, induction, and active duty.
American Red Cross, 1940, 1945, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• Correspondence from Mount Sinai Hospital and the New York Chapter of the American Red Cross regarding Newman's donation of blood for the British Red Cross, November-December 1940.
• Certificate from the American National Red Cross to Mrs. Lawrence Newman for her personal service during World War II, December 1945.
Classification examination booklets, 1941-1945, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• War Department. Adjutant General's Office. General Classification Test 1c and 1d, 1941 (2 booklets).
• War Department. Adjutant General's Office. Cryptography—TC 4a, 1943.
• War Department. Adjutant General's Office. Army General Classification Test: Reading and Vocabulary (RV-3a), Arithmetic Computation (AC-3a), and Arithmetic Reasoning (AR-3a), 1945 (3 booklets).
• Headquarters, Army Air Forces Eastern Flying Training Command, Maxwell Field, Alabama. Enlisted Classification Training Program Class No. 3, June 26–July 23 1945. Syllabus and student list.
• A true/false examination taken by Lawrence Newman.
Sheppard Air Force Base, 1944 May-June, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Documents from Lawrence Newman's time at Sheppard Air Force Base, Wichita Falls, Texas, including an off-duty pass, extracts of special orders, and a map of the field.
Amarillo Army Air Field, 1944 June-1946, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Documents from Lawrence Newman's time at Amarillo Army Air Field, Amarillo, Texas, including copies of special orders, physical condition reports, his request for dependency discharge, and a map of the base.
Amarillo Army Air Field. Booklet, circa 1944-1946, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Amarillo Army Air Field: A Camera Trip Through Amarillo Army Air Field, Texas (pictorial booklet).
Amarillo Army Air Field. Stationery, circa 1944-1946, inclusive
Scope and Contents
A few blank sheets and envelopes printed "Section 'A' / Amarillo Army Air Field / Amarillo, Texas."
Conditions Governing Use
The sheets and envelopes have become stuck together over time. Do not attempt to separate them.
Military ephemera, 1944-1945, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• One pad of blank furlough forms (W.D., A.G.O. Form No. 31, 8 June 1944).
• So You've Got a Furlough? (pamphlet, 13 June 1944).
• Going Back to Civilian Life (pamphlet, August 1945).
• A leaflet with illustrations of 16 service ribbons, with their names and meanings (1945).
• Three undated instructional drawings showing the correct method of "Latrine Cleaning," "Alignment and Order of Clothing" in a service member's bunk, and how to properly organize one's footlocker.
Veterans' Administration / Life Insurance, 1945-1949, inclusive
Scope and Contents
A pamphlet describing "Veterans' Administration Benefits for the Ex-Serviceman," with forms, correspondence, and receipts regarding Lawrence Newman's policy with National Service Life Insurance.
Discharge papers, 1946, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Multiple copies of Lawrence Newman's "Enlisted Record and Report of Separation / Honorable Discharge" (5 February 1946), with his "Separation Qualification Record" outlining his military duties and civilian occupations, and an Army Air Forces Certificate of Appreciation for War Service.
Military Order of the Purple Heart, circa 1950-1953, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Promotional materials for the Military Order of the Purple Heart, mailed to Milton S. Ballenberg (Lawrence Newman's father-in-law), at 25 East 86th Street, Manhattan (undated, but references "the boys in Korea," so circa 1950–1953). Includes reproductions of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
Miscellaneous military items, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• Humorous mockup of a "Classification Sleeve Patch" with the Latin motto "Hic Hotto Absurdum" (freely translated as "We do it the hard way").
• Blank form, "AAF Officers' Qualification Record."