Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the James Alexander Moseley Papers, #3441, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Daisy H. Moseley of Glen Ridge, N.J., October 1959.

Received from Lucy Kent Chappell Clarkson, June 1963.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, May 2009; Nancy Kaiser, January 2021

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Chappell, Lucy Kent.
• College students--Connecticut--History--20th century.
• France--Description and travel.
• France--History--20th century.
• Moseley, Annie Conigland.
• Moseley, James Alexander, 1894-1918.
• United States. Army--Military life.
• United States. Army--Officers--Correspondence.
• United States. Army. American Expeditionary Forces.
• United States. Army. Infantry Division, 42nd. Infantry Regiment, 166th.
• World War, 1914-1918--France.
• World War, 1914-1918--Personal narratives.
• Yale University--Students.

James Alexander Moseley (1894-1918) was born in Raleigh, N.C., and moved as a child to Glen Ridge, N.J. He graduated from Yale University in 1915 and was commissioned as first lieutenant in the United States Army. After training at Plattsburgh, N.Y., he sailed for France, January 1918. There he attended the 2nd Corps Army School at Chatillon-sur Seine, had a tour of observation at the French front near Nancy, and then joined Company C, 166th Infantry, 42nd (Rainbow) Division, American Expeditionary Forces. Briefly in the spring he was a grenade instructor in the 126th Regiment, 32nd Division. After returning to the 166th, he was killed in action in July 1918, in the Battle of Ourcq near Chateau-Thierry.

The collection includes letters, January-July 1918, from James A. Moseley Junior, in France, to his mother, Annie Conigland Moseley; letters, 1916-1918, from Moseley to Lucy Kent Chappell of Georgia, a teacher at the Baldwin School, Bryn Mawr, Pa.; letters from Moseley's mother to him; letters before and after 1918 relating to Moseley's life and to his death in the Battle of Ourcq near Chateau-Thierry; and other items. The bulk of the collection consists of Moseley's letters to family and friends during World War I. These letters vividly describe his experiences in an army training camp at Plattsburgh, N.Y., in 1917, his voyage to France in January 1918, his experience at the 2nd Corps Army School in France, his view of the French countryside, and his life in the trenches in France. Moseley's mother's letters to him give news of family and friends and describe life on the home front during the war. Letters written by Moseley before the war concern his studies at Yale, his father's death, his decision to go into business rather than to teach, and his social life. In addition to letters, the collection includes clippings about Moseley and his death; Yale University magazines, pamphlets, and commencement programs; and a copy of Rainbow Memories, which contains a picture and biographical sketch of Moseley.

Oversize papers (XOPF-3441/1a).

Oversize paper folder (OPF-03441/1)