Liberty Street

Personal letters can provide us with a unique opportunity. The letters in this collection offer a glimpse into the personal lives of two people whose lives, like so many others, were interrupted by World War II. These letters date from August 1943 to March 1946, the time that Alfred Chandler served in the Army Medical Corps. The majority of the 700 plus letters were written by Alfred and Janice, his wife, to each other. They wrote faithfully whenever they were apart. Alfred was facing an unforeseeable future as he embarked on his wartime assignment in Europe, and Janice had her own challenges living back home with her family in Massachusetts. It is unusual to have such an extensive collection of personal letters survive, given the variety of circumstances which could have caused them to be lost or destroyed. It is even more amazing that mail was so successfully delivered to battlefields and bases all over the world, a truly major accomplishment.