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No materials were removed from the collection during 2023 processing.
The collection is open for research.
Purchased from McBride Rare Books in 2022 (AM 2023-105).
Materials were arranged in chronological order.
This collection was processed by Lauren C. Williams in June 2023.
Finding aid written by Lauren C. Williams in June 2023, incorporating some description provided by the dealer.
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under
Consists of 64 pictorial postcards written by Samuel Woodfill, mostly addressed to Miss Lorena "Blossom" Wiltshire. Written during Woodfill's time serving in the U. S. Army, the postcards feature images of San Antonio, Fort Sam Houston, Laredo, and Mexico and its inhabitants. Woodfill writes of camp life, daily activities, weather, training, and conflicts on the Texas-Mexican border.
A small number of postcards are printed with pictures from the Mexican Revolution, including "After the Battle - Ravine Where the Dead Have Been Thrown" and "Carranza at the Front Eating Hot Tamales." Other postcards picture Mexican subjects and street scenes, and also American military personnel while "Drilling" and at "Mess hour in camp at Ft. Sam Houston." Woodfill wrote the first two letters in this collection from Oklahoma and nearly all others in Laredo, Texas.
Most of the postcards are addressed to his future wife, Blossom, in Cinncinati. Two are addressed to William Wiltshire, who he writes to as "Dad". His correspondence also mentions receiving letters from Blossom and visiting the Wiltshires.
The postcard "After the Battle - Ravine Where the Dead Have Been Thrown," dated November 3, 1914, features a photograph image of dead bodies.
Lorena "Blossom" Wiltshire was born on September 24, 1886 in Kentucky. She married Samuel Woodfill on December 25, 1917. She lived with her husband in Fort Thomas until her death on March 26, 1942.
William H. Wiltshire was born in 1859. He was married to Anna Wells Wiltshire and had a daughter, Lorena "Blossom" Wiltshire Woodfill. He died June 13, 1931 and is buried in Falmouth, Kentucky.