The collection is open to researchers by appointment.
Gift, 2000.
Collection is arranged by format. The Wade Hall Collection of American Letters has been processed into discrete collections based on provenance.
Frank Finch, son of Miles O. (b. 1872) and Elsie Finch (1894-1986), was born February 24, 1924 and grew up in Galesburg, Illinois. He enlisted in the United States Navy on February 9, 1944 and served aboard the destroyer escort USS Osterhaus (DE-164). He was released from service on April 22, 1946 and shortly after married his fiancée Clarine Malcolm (1923-1987). Frank Finch passed away on November 18, 1988.
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
2009ms132.0056: [identification of item], Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Frank G. Finch letters, 1945-1946, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
The Frank G. Finch letters (dated 1945-1946; 0.05 cubic feet; 1 folder) comprise ten letters that document the duties of an enlisted Navy Seaman aboard the USS Osterhaus during World War II. The letters are from Finch to his fiancée Clarine. Along with duties, the letters detail the decommissioning of the destroyer and a sister ship.
The Frank G. Finch letters are 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.