Dr. Louis Carroll English Papers

1942-1945
Manuscript Collection #844
Creator(s)
English, Louis Carroll
Physical description
1.5 Cubic Feet, 3 archival boxes
Preferred Citation
Dr. Louis Carroll English Papers (#844), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Repository
ECU Manuscript Collection
Access
No restrictions

Papers (1940–1945) of a U.S. Naval Reserve medical officer, including scrapbook of clippings, photographs, correspondence, photographs, original art, and memorabilia compiled while serving in the U.S. Naval Reserve at the Toledo, Ohio naval recruiting station, 1942–1943; And letters sent to his parents Dr. and Mrs. Carroll C. English, in Louisville, Kentucky, while serving aboard USS Trathen (DD-530), 4 April 1943–5 December 1944


Biographical/historical information

D. Louis Carroll "Woody" English was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and earned his M.D. at the University of Louisville. In 1941, he enlisted in the Navy, and served as a physician on a Navy Fletcher class destroyer, USS Trathen (DD-530), in the South Pacific for 18 months. English also received training in psychoanalysis at the William Allenson White Institute in New York, where he went on to become a member of the faculty, Director of Clinical Services and President. He also served as a Fulbright Professor at the University of Baroda in the 1950s, and for many years served as director at Rockland County (N.Y.) Mental Health Clinic.

In 1958 English bought a second home in North Truro, Mass. During the late 1960s he volunteered his professional services in a nearby town at the Provincetown Drop-In Center. After retiring, English began a second career as an artist, working primarily in collage. He was actively involved at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill and served as a member of its board. English died on 5 December 2001 at the age of 86.


Scope and arrangement

The collection consists of correspondence (1943–1944) from English to his parents in Louisville regarding his life in San Francisco and while serving at sea. English describes day-to-day activities without too many details due to the secrecy of his mission. His main topics of discussion include mentions of friends he has made, books he is reading and other general topics. English's letters are often accompanied by sketches of depicting his topics of discussion. Also included are some menus from the special events held aboard the ship.

The collection also includes a scrapbook containing programs, magazine and newspaper clippings, military-inspired cartoons, wedding announcements, ephemera and photographs. The majority of these items document events in English's life and in the lives of his friends. Much of the materials also relates to places he visited, including San Francisco and Toledo.


Administrative information
Custodial History

October 24, 2001, 3 containers, 1.4 cubic feet, 1 volume; Papers of a U.S. Naval Reserve medical officer (1940–1945) including a scrapbook of clippings, photographs, correspondence, photographs, original art, and memorabilia compiled while serving in the U.S. Naval Reserve at the Toledo, Ohio naval recruiting station, 1942–1943; and letters sent to his parents Dr. and Mrs. Carroll C. English, in Louisville, Kentucky, while serving aboard USS Trathen (DD-530), 4 April 1943–5 December 1944 (1.4 cubic feet). Donor: Dr. Louis Carroll English.

February 28, 2002, (unprocessed addition 1), Letter (1/22/1944) from a U.S. Naval Reserve medical officer during World War II to his parents (Dr. and Mrs. Carroll C. English) describing his weekend leave on a Pacific Island in company with Lt. John W. Gilpin, with whom he served aboard USS Trathen (DD-530). Donor: Mrs. John W. Gilpin.

Source of acquisition

Gift of Dr. Louis Carroll English

Processing information

Processed by Jason Johnson, 2002, and Martha Baldree, May 4, 2004

Encoded by Apex Data Services

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.


Key terms
Personal Names
English, Louis Carroll
Gilpin, John Wallace
Corporate Names
United States. Naval Reserve
United States. Navy--Military life
Topical
Destroyers (Warships)--United States
Psychiatrists--New York (State)

Container list
Box 1 Folder a Letters sent to parents, Mr. and Mrs. Carroll C. English 4/9/1943-8/2/1943. 32 letters. 2 postcards 7/14/1943-7/18/1943 (handwritten). 34 items. 130 p
Box 2 Folder a Letters to parents Mr. & Mrs. Carroll C. English, 1/21/1944-5/4/1944. 80 letters (handwritten). 2 v-mail letters April 13 1944-May 7 1944 (copies of handwritten). Anonymous Valentines card 1/17/1944. 25 items. 82 p
Box 2 Folder b Letters to parents Mr. & Mrs. Carroll C. English, 4/23/1944-7/25/1944. 20 letters (handwritten). 1 v-mail letter 7/28/1944. Bulletin Divine Service U.S.S. Whitney, 7/9/1944 (printed) U.S.S. Trathen Happy Birthday menu, no date (printed). 21 items. 73 p
Box 2 Folder c Letters to parents Mr. & Mrs. Carroll C. English, 7/31/1944-12/4/1944. 28 letters (handwritten). 2 v-mail letters 11/21/1944-11/25/1944. 30 items. 84 p
Box 2 Folder d Letter to parents Mr. & Mrs. Carroll C. English, Note: donated by Mrs. Gilpin (Addition #1). 1 item. 1 p
Box 3 Folder a Loose items found in front of scrapbook: Time Weekly Magazine 11/16/1944, "Plan of the Day" from U.S.S.Trathen (DD 530) 6/27/1943 (type), newspaper clipping dinner given for Miss Frances Smyser – L. Carroll English attended, matchbook covers for U.S. Navy and Royal Hawaiian Moana Hotels, Honolulu Rapid Transit Co. transfer ticket, Royal Hawaiian Rest & Recreation Center receipt 10/19/1943, Moana Hotel guest pass to Blackout Lounge 10/12 & 10/15, cover page Harpers Bazaar 3/15/1942, cover page The New Yorker 4/7/1945, Toledo Sunday Times Parade 2/28/1943, cover page Fortune July 1942. 14 items. 45 p
Box 3 Folder b Items found in Item 4 of page 4 of scrapbook: card (n.d.), postcard to Lt. L. Carroll English from Bud hand drawn flagmen spelling out HELLO JUST GOT 9/15/1942, postcard from "blue eyes" handwritten postmarked 8/19/1942, card (n.d.), small paper card with type print. 6 items. 9 p
Box 3 Folder c Loose items found between pages 9 & 10 of scrapbook: "Rostrum" (n.d.). 1 item. 1 p
Box 3 Folder d Loose items found between pages 13 & 14 of scrapbook: humorous bulletin with mention of Dr. English (n.d.). 1 item. 1 p
Box 3 Folder e Loose items found in Item 3 page 16 & Item 4 of page 16 of scrapbook: letter from Grandma 9/27/1942 handwritten including 3 small hand painted paper squares, Bulletin for October 1942 of J.B. Speed Memorial Museum announcing the death of Mrs. J.B. Speed on 8/8/42 (printed), handwritten card from Bub (n.d.), handwritten poem "Ode to a L.T." (n.d.), handwritten card (n.d.). 5 items. 13 p
Box 3 Folder f Items found in Item 3 of page 18 of scrapbook: handwritten gift card from Fritz, handwritten card from Mrs. Natalie Reynolds Spitzer. 2 items. 2 p
Box 3 Folder g Items found in Items 4 & 5 of page 20 of scrapbook: note from Mrs. Arthur Sieroty handwritten (n.d.), Hotel Mark Hopkins telephone messages: 4/5 Mr. Brent called, 4/5 Mr. Wilcox after dinner, 4/4 call Santag top of Mark, 4/3 call Susan Sieroty. 5 items. 6 p
Box 3 Folder h Items found in Item 2 of page 21 of scrapbook: wedding invitation Elaine Wiggins to Lt. William Stewart Rutherford May 3, 1943, wedding invitation Elizabeth Estelle Robinson to Rathbun Fuller Mather January 8, 1944, wedding invitation plus the reception RSVP card Margie Louise Beam to Charles Whitefield Welch, Jr. June 12, 1943. 4 items. 7 p
Box 3 Folder i Items found in Item 5 of page 22 of scrapbook: Western Union telegram to his parents 6/13/1943, to English from Estelle 6/13/43, to English from Marv Rorick 5.12.43, to his parents (announcing he had made full Lieutenant) 5/4/43, to parents 4/25/43, to parents 3/3/43, to English from Honeybud (n.d.), to parents 12/15/44, to parents 8/21/43, to parents 8/6, to parents 7/30. 11 items. 11 p
Box 3 Folder j Loose items found in envelope between pages 23 & 24 of scrapbook: envelope labeled "Carroll's small drawings" and 61 small engraved drawings clipped from magazines:Dock with boats – E., Navy seamen singing – RD, Boat – Eastwood, Navy uniform – CD, Anchor with USN, US Navy boat with crew – Albe, US Navy carrier – E., US Navy carrier – E., Seagull perched – Eastwood, Navy man with duffel bag, Military reading magazine – ST, Navy boats – Eastwood, Bed with gear – Abbe, Steamship – E., Gunner, Navy seamen getting portrait done – RD, Buoy and ship – Eastwood, Steamship pulling barge – Eastwood, Ship with searchlight, Carrier ship – Abbe, Steamship pulling 4 planes – Eastwood, Symbols – Eastwood, Seamen with girl departing, Navy officer – V.Dep, Navy seamen – Dep, Intertwining anchors, Ship's window – Eastwood, Deck of ship – VD, Navigational items – Eastwood, Troops boarding ship – RD, Amphibious boarding ship – RD, Ships – Eastwood, Ship building – Abbe, Officers – Steinberg, troops around info desk – GW, tanks boarding ship – Eastwood, Ship entering port – Abbe, US Arn=my steamship – Abbe, US Carrier – Abbe, train – Abbe, Troops being hauled away on a track – GW, Navy carrier – Abbe, Ship #36 – Abbe, Submarines – Abbe, Lady in chair, Dog and duck, taking photographs, Medical ship – Abbe, Ships – Abbe, V-mail, Welcome home – GW, Navy man at bar – D. Spiegal, Bar with patrons – D. Spiegal, Plane fighter, Ropes and anchor – Eastwood, Couple under lamplight – RD, Navy ships, Flagman – GW, Army personnel getting directions – RD, Boats – Abbe. 62 items. 62 p
Box 3 Folder k Items found in Item 14 of page 24 of scrapbook: wedding invitation Caroline Allen to Warren Forbitt Thomas may 31, 1943, wedding invitation Jane Lee Bentley to John Alden Embry, Jr. July 17, 1943. 2 items. 4 p
Box 3 Folder l Items found in back of scrapbbok page 24-26: USS Trathen Christmas menu 1943, USS Trathen Thanksgiving menu 1943, autographed picture of Peter Deian (n.d.), Commissioning ceremonies program from New Main Navy Recruiting Station Toledo, OH 7/14/1942 (mention on back as Staff Officer), Clipping turned into origami, clipping "The Summer Landscape or The Dragon's Teeth" by Rolph Humphries (n.d.), clipping Bath Iron Works Corp. picture of destroyer (n.d.), recipe for beef a la Stregunoff from Mrs. Neashum (handwritten, n.d.), carton clipping, clipping "Checking Out Time" by Edward Fenton (n.d.), clipping "When You Are Distant" by Carolyn Kizer (n.d.), clipping "Of Summer to Come" by S/Sgt. William Justema (n.d.), clipping Toledo Sunday Times 7/12/42 with picture announcement as a new medical officer at Toledo navy Recruiting Station, clipping "'Toledo at War' Wins Praise" (n.d.), clipping "Alternatives" by Irwin Edman (n.d.), clipping "Conversation with Those Who Return" by Irwin Edman (n.d.), clipping from The New Yorker "De Mortuis" by John Collier 9/18/42, clipping from The New Yorker "Darknes of the Night" by Robert M. Coates 9/5/42. 21 items. 24 p
Box 3 Folder m Scrapbook, Louis Carroll English Lieut. (JG) MC-V (G) USNR, newspaper clippings "New Officers" (n.d.), "'Toledo at War' Wins Praise" (n.d.), "Examiners names for Naval Station" (n.d.), "Englishes Return after Visiting Son" (n.d.), Scott Stadium ticket stub, Commissioning Ceremonies New Main Recruiting Station program 7/14/42, photo men saluting (n.d.), Toledo baseball co Navy relief game ticket stub 7/15/42, card 8/3/42, Program 28th Annual Soth Shore Regatta 8/14-16/42, "Ode to Eloquence" by Bess Dodson Walt, Lincoln, clipping Toledo Blade "Recruiting Gains Rapidly in Toledo" 10/26/42, clipping "Message Found in a Bottle" by Phyllis McGinley (n.d.), Navy Send off breakfast programs for 8/6, 8/20, 7/23 (plus script) 1942, newspaper clippings "Mass Navy Day Induction Scheduled Here Tuesday (Nov. 1942), "4 Made Bombardiers" (Dec. 42), "Debutants give smart supper dance" (Toledo Sunday Times Jan, 3rd), "Worry Placed Last at Induction Center" (Feb 43), engagement picture Nell McCoy Shearer to Capt. Charles R. Zimmer, clipping with pictures of Navy Send off breakfast 1/7, Invitation to award ceremony for production to Willys Overland Motors Inc, matchbook cover Hillcrest Hotel, Production award ceremony program, glossy autographed picture of Georgia Brown, matchbook covers for Toledo Values, Chop Suey, The Carranor Club, The Toledo Club, and The Commodore Perry Hotel, postcard from Ann handwritten 1/25/43, newspaper clipping "Navy Officer to Aid Show of Red Cross" 2/25/43, Toledo Museum of Art programs for 3/10/43, 11/2/42, 11/16/42, 1/31/43, 2/25/43, and 2/23/43, Toledo phone book page with English listing, Cass Theatre stub 12/5, Frank Tierney name card, matchbook covers for Ka-See's and Grace E. Smith's Restaurant, 4th Ave. Presbyterian Church program (honoring service men including English) 2/14/43 Clippings "Gold Star: Line Officer" by Eleanor Hart (n.d.), "Vestibule" by Clinch Calkins (n.d.), "Allow me Madame, but it Won't Help" by Ogden Nash (n.d.), "No Doctors Today Thank You" by Ogden Nash (n.d.), "Thirteen o'clock" by Kenneth Fearing (n.d.), "The Habeas Corpus Blues" by Conrad Aiken (n.d.), "Farewell to a Stranger" by Victoria Lincoln (n.d.), "Ode to the Fifth Horseman" by Phyllis McGinley (n.d.), "The Man with the Big General Notions" by Robert Lax (n.d.), newspaper clipping re: Mrs. Hattie Battle Sneed death and will, Toledo Times clipping with photo "New Town Hall Usher" 2/25/43, Toledo Blade clipping Patricia Gardener entertains 9/14/42, announcement of tea dance at Commodore Perry Hotel, Christmas Card signed Rasputin , handwritten words to "Mean to Me" by the Andrews Sisters, cardboard cutout with "Representative from the US Navy Recruiting Station", newspaper clipping "Lieut. L.C. English Assigned Sea Duty" (n.d.), clipping "Lieut. L.C. English Visiting Here" (n.d.), postcards Mark Hopkins Hotel (2), California Street Hill, San Francisco, CA (1), Top of the Mark coaster, train stubs Louisville to Chicago and Chicago to San Francisco (n.d.), matchbook covers for The Palace Hotel, the St. Francis, The Fairmont, The Cirque, The Mark Hopkins, Chancellor Clipper Ship, and Sinaloa Cantina, Zebra Room cocktail napkin, Olympic Club invite from George Jake (n.d.), Junior Officers Club card, San Francisco official amusement guide brochure for week of April 1, 1943, Bulletin Boston comic opera co. in Gilbert & Sullivan operas, wedding and engagement announcement Estelle Robinson to Lt. Mathers, hotel bills for Mark Hopkins 3/31-4/7/43, Olympic Hotel Bill 10/30-10/31/43, Empress Hotel 4/11/43, Wine & Liquor List cal-Vada Lodge, Lake Tahoe, NV, El Cortez Hotel Sky Room coaster, magazine clipping Kappa Alpha Journal with photo 5/1943 U.S. Navy identification card (n.d.), Selective service registration card, matchbook covers Tahoe Tavern, Lee & Bob and the Sieroty's, engagement and wedding announcement Jane Lee Bentley to John Alden Embry, Jr., engagement announcement Caroline Allen to Lt. Warren Torbitt Thomas, engagement announcement Eleanor Crenshaw Felter to Cadet George Clement Eady, clipping of wood horse at Ed Nord's Harness Shop, Bethlehem Steel Co. card acct # 1733, photo 8/43 San Francisco English and Bob Hartle. 146 items. 168 p