Miscellaneous Manuscripts

(Description ID: 607447)

Rutherford B. Hayes Library and Museums

Sheldon R. Laning

LH-MISC MSS

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Introduction

Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content
Inventory

Introduction

This collection was donated to the Rutherford B. Hayes Library and Museums in 2018.

 
Biographical Sketch

Sheldon R. Laning was born in Norwalk, Ohio, the son of attorney, publisher, and Congressman Jay Ford Laning. He attended Ohio Wesleyan University and graduated from Cleveland School of Law in 1913. He owned and operated the Law Abstract Publishing Company, where the Ohio State Bar Association Weekly, the official reports of the Ohio Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Ohio Law Abstracts were published. Laning served on the Norwalk City Council, as the past commander of Flotilla 903 U. S. Coast Guard, and in the Ohio National Guard.  He and his wife Mildred were the parents of one child, Mary Louise (Mrs. John S. Stewart). Laning died September 24, 1967 in Norwalk, Ohio.

Scope and Content

The bulk of this collection is composed of nineteen letters written to Sheldon and/or Mildred Laning by two Norwalk, Ohio friends serving in WWI: Homer Beattie in the Forestry Division of the10^th Engineers and Major Robert C. Gill, a physician in the 37^th Division Medical Corps.

Each group of letters dates from 1917 at Camp Sheridan in Montgomery, Alabama, and other stateside locations and extend to late in the war. Censorship prevented detailed letters, however Beattie wrote that he was involved in roadmaking and spent much time as a lumberjack. Dr. Gill was located behind the front lines and was frequently exposed to aerial bombing and involved inoffensive drives by the 37^th Division in the Argonne Forest and in Belgium. 

In addition to the letters, there are WWI draft board cards belonging to Sheldon Laning and a wartime Christmas card. Also included are two invitations for Congressman Jay Ford Laning and his wife to White House receptions given by President Theodore Roosevelt; a 1912 Republican National Convention ticket; and a WCTU pledge card. The collection dates from 1908 to 1919. The WWI letters are legible but quite fragile and brittle.

Inventory

 Ac. 6007

Homer Beattie, 10^th Engineers

1. July 1, 1917 Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Indiana
2. July 11, 1917 Norwalk, Ohio
3. July 26,1917 Columbus Barracks
4. November 11, 1917 Camp Sheridan
5. December 3, 1917 n.p.
6. March 24, 1918 France
7. June 7, 1918 n.p.
8. July 24, 1918 n.p.
9. December 3, 1918 France

Dr. Robert C. Gill, Medical Corps, 37^th Division

1. December 3, 1917 Camp Sheridan
2. December 5, 1917 Camp Sheridan
3. February 12, 1818 Camp Sheridan
4. May 18, 1918 Camp Sheridan
5. June 8, 1918 Camp Sheridan
6. July 23, 1918 (card) n.p. [probably from Europe?]
7. August 28, 1918 France
8. November 14, 1918 Belgium
9. November 27, 1918 Belgium
10. February 5, 1919 France

1908 White House Invitation to Congressman Jay Ford and Mrs. Laning from President and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt

1909 White House Invitation to Congressman Jay Ford and Mrs. Laning from President and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt

January 11^th, n.y. invitation by Vice President and Mrs. Fairbanks to a reception given by the U.S. Senate for members of the House of Representatives

WWI Sheldon Laning draft board cards

Christmas card and envelope from Lieutenant Henry S Culp, U.S. Air Service