Title: Arthur W. S. Thomas Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1917-2001

Creator:

• Thomas, Arthur Waldorf Spittel, 1891-

Call Number: Mss 194; Micro 473

Quantity: 0.8 c.f. (2 archives boxes) and 1 reel of microfilm (35mm)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers, 1917-1967, 2001, of Arthur W. S. Thomas, a World War I U.S. Army Sanitation Corps officer and later a Columbia University chemistry professor. Correspondence, reports, and military orders and publications, 1917-1919, routinely document food and nutrition standards of army camps in the Northeastern United States with the 26th and 89th Divisions and in France. Also present is brief documentation from Thomas' academic career, and materials written and compiled by Thomas' son, Arthur L. Thomas.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00194

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Arthur W. S. Thomas was born on February 18, 1891 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. After graduating from high school in 1909 as valedictorian of his class, he entered Columbia University, where he received a degree in chemistry in 1912. He remained at Columbia as an instructor of Food Chemistry until the outbreak of the First World War. Serving in the U.S. Army Sanitation Corps during the war, he was assigned to survey the food and nutritional standards in army camps in the northeastern United States and in France with the 26th and 89th Divisions. After the war Thomas returned to Columbia and his work in colloidal and food chemistry, becoming a full professor in 1928 and Professor Emeritus in 1959. From 1942 to 1951 he also served as Executive Officer of the university.

The Thomas Papers, 1917-1967, contain correspondence, food survey reports, and military orders and publications relating to Thomas' work as an officer of the Army Sanitation Corps. Although generally routine, these papers document several examples of inadequate sanitation in Army camps; a disorganized positive microfilm copy of these army materials accompanies the collection.

The collection contains a small amount of correspondence and writings from Thomas' academic career, 1922-1967.

Additionally there are materials written and compiled by Thomas' son, Arthur L. Thomas, including a 2001 biography of A.W.S.T. and a transcription of a notebook he kept while in the Sanitary Corps describing his observations on the rations and needs of the troops he visited, and photocopies of the correspondence and military orders of Thomas from 1917 through 1919. Also present is a photocopy of a menu planning guide prepared by Thomas and used in the field kitchens of the AEF.

World War I original broadsides, and photostatic copies relating to food rationing and diets during the First World War (two in French) which were received with this collection are now part of the World War I visual materials in PH 6030.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Arthur L. Thomas, Huntington, West Virginia, in four accessions in 1962 and on September 6, 1967. Accession Number: M62-147, M62-168, M62-190, M62-199, M67-239, M2001-071

Processing Information

Processed by K.E. (Intern), March 21, 1972.

Mss 194 Box   1 Folder   1	Biographical materials, 1917, 1954-1963
Box   1 Folder   2	Provenance - Correspondence, 1962-1967
	General Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   3	1917
Box   1 Folder   4	1918 Jan - Oct
Box   1 Folder   5	1918 Nov - Dec
Box   1 Folder   6	1919
Box   1 Folder   7	1922-1965
Box   1 Folder   8	Undated
	U.S. Army Sanitation Corps
Box   1	Food Survey
Box   1 Folder   9	Correspondence, 1917
Box   1 Folder   10	Reports, 1917
Box   1 Folder   11	List of Microfilmed Documents
Micro 473	Microfilm copy of Selected Documents, 1917-1919
Mss 194	Military Publications
Box   1 Folder   12	Orders and Instructions, 1917-1919
Box   2 Folder   1	Reports, 1917-1919
	Writings
Box   2 Folder   2	1917, undated
Box   2 Folder   3	1917-1924
Box   2 Folder   4	1934
Box   2 Folder   5	Miscellany, 1916-1918, undated
Box   2 Folder   6	Biography by Arthur L. Thomas, 2001
Box   2 Folder   7	Transcribed Notebook and Photocopied Correspondence and Orders, 1917-1919