Collection is open to researchers by appointment.
Gift, 2000.
Collection is arranged chronologically. The Wade Hall Collection of American Letters has been processed into discrete collections based on provenance.
Herman Gutman (1913-1987) was born in New York to Moritz I. Gutman (b. 1885) and Lina Herz (b. 1888). No other biographical information available.
American Letters collector Wade Hall (1934-2015) was a native of Union Springs, Alabama. Starting in 1962, he lived in Louisville, where he taught English and chaired the English and Humanities/Arts programs at Kentucky Southern College and Bellarmine University. He also taught at the University of Illinois and the University of Florida. He held degrees from Troy State University (B.S.), the University of Alabama (M.A.), and the University of Illinois (Ph.D.). He served for two years in the U.S. Army in the mid-fifties. Dr. Hall was the author of books, monographs, articles, plays, and reviews relating to Kentucky, Alabama, and Southern history and literature. His most recent books include
2009ms132.1058: [identification of item], Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Herman Gutman letters, 1943-1945, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
The Herman Gutman letters (dated 1943-1945; 0.04 cubic feet; 1 folder) comprises letters from Herman Gutman to his parents that document life in the military during World War II. Herman writes to his parents from Maine, California, and Guam, discussing the daily weather, his duties at each place, the cost of goods in Canada, traveling by train, personal health, money, receiving leave, and interactions with the locals. Many of the letters discuss which forms his parents need to fill out to be claimed as dependents of his, so they can receive additional financial support.
The Herman Gutman letters collection is part of the Wade Hall Collection of American Letters, which includes correspondence and diaries from all over North America covering the time period of the Civil to Korean Wars. The materials were collected by Wade Hall and document everyday men and women.
The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.