The Collection
The materials in the World War I collection (4 cubic feet) document the participation of the students, alumni, faculty and staff of Illinois State Normal University in World War I, 1917-1919. During the war Illinois State Normal University Librarian Ange Milner corresponded with persons in service. After the war, she sent a survey to all who could be located. The bulk of the material in this collection consists of the responses to this survey and letters and photographs sent to Miss Milner or others at the University and gathered in War Service Records files for each person. The collection also includes documentation of on-campus activities, including a reunion for everyone that served in WWI hosted by the University in June 1919.

The War Service Records were identified by Illinois State University Archivist JoAnne Rayfield as a valuable but fragile collection. Digitizing the materials was desirable to ensure availability to more researchers while protecting the originals. The women were selected as a well-defined subgroup that could be completed as the first step in making the entire collection available. In addition, there is increasing scholarly interest in the role of women as well as those on the home front in World War I. This collection illustrates both aspects of war time activities in the United States.

Contributors
The principle investigators for this project are Milner Library, Illinois State University staff JoAnne Rayfield, Morag Boyd, and Toni Tucker. Infobahn Outfitters scanned the original documents and designed the website. Milner Library interns Sarah McHone-Chase and Karla Stover researched and prepared the metadata in the Illinois State Library Illinois Digital Archives database. University Archives staff provided research.

Funding
This project was supported by an Educate and Automate Digital Imaging of Illinois History and Cultural Heritage Material awarded by the Illinois State Library in Fiscal Year 2002.