Every semester, the Archives is privileged to host students from Dr. Thomas Arnold’s course on Military History, specifically to support his assignment examining the experience of war.
During this instruction session, we introduce the students to collections in the Archives from Norwich alum (and others) that document their time serving in various wars and conflicts over the last 200 years. While there are countless memoirs, documentaries and biographies that do an amazing job of documenting the unique thoughts and feelings of those touched by war, the material in the Norwich archives provides the opportunity for NU students to read the perspectives of people who share something in common with them. They lived in the same town, sat in the same classrooms, and endured the same snowy winters.
Two collections of Norwich alumni that are particularly impactful for students are the Alexander G. Olsen Papers and the William F. Bonk Papers.
Lt. Colonel Olsen was in the Philippine Islands during WW2. His correspondence gives the impression that he did not expect to return, and the topics he chooses to write to his family about and his appreciation in hearing back from them takes on a heightened poignancy.
William Bonk served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot. His letters home provide a fascinating insight into how this young man adjusted to increasingly extreme circumstances and the war becoming “very real.” Students take particular interest in his slides from Vietnam, and we also have his oral history obtained in 2015 that provides Bonk’s perspective from decades after his service.
While many parts of both the Olsen and Bonk collections are digitized and can be viewed from anywhere, it is quite a visceral experience to interact with these materials firsthand, along with so many others contained in the Norwich University Archives and Special Collections.
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