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Collection Number: 05167

Collection Title: Richard James Rendleman Papers, 1921-1969

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.

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Size 2.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 650 items)
Abstract Richard James Rendleman of Salisbury, N.C., served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy during World War II. After the war, he returned to Salisbury, where he worked in the chemical field and became a well-known businessman. The collection includes correspondence, official United States Navy documents, and photographs, 1921-1969, with the bulk dating 1943-1946, when Richard James Rendleman was serving in the Navy. Letters deal with the Port Chicago explosion and its aftermath, as well as Rendleman's daily life during his service in Guam; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Okinawa, Japan. Included are a few items relating to a tennis tournament in Guam at which Rendleman met several players, including Bobby Riggs. Official documents relate to Rendleman's naval service during and after World War II and include service records, travel expense vouchers, orders to report to various bases, separation records, and discharge records. Many of the photographs, 1941-1946, provide visual evidence for subjects described in the letters, including the Port Chicago Incident; the tennis tournament in Guam; and a typhoon that hit Okinawa while Rendleman was stationed at the naval base there. Individuals in the photographs include Rendleman, his parents, friends, and Bobby Riggs. Also included is a photograph album that contains images, 1942-1946, mostly of family members, many of them unidentified.
Creator Rendleman, Richard James, 1920-2002.
Curatorial Unit Southern Historical Collection
Language English
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Information For Users

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
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 Richard James Rendleman Papers #5167, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Patricia Rendleman of Salisbury, N.C., in July 2004 (Acc. 99844) and October 2005 (Acc. 100237).
Additional Descriptive Resources
See also additional information on Richard James Rendleman's World War II activities, especially the Port Chicago incident, at http://www.rendleman.com/wwii/, a site maintain by the Rendleman family.
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.
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: Jesse Brown, October 2004

Encoded by: Jesse Brown, October 2004

Revisions: Finding aid updated in April 2006 by Nancy Kaiser.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

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.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Richard James Rendleman was born in Salisbury, N.C., on 21 November 1920. After graduating from Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., he worked for two years as an assistant manager at a chemical company. During World War II, Rendleman enlisted in the United States Navy and was commissioned an ensign on 26 December 1942. Upon completing probationary training at Dartmouth College and Princeton, N.J., he was assigned to the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, Calif. He was on temporary duty in Vallejo, Calif., when, on 17 July 1944, two ammunition ships exploded in Port Chicago, Calif., killing 320 sailors. From 1945 to 1946, Rendleman was stationed in Guam; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Okinawa, Japan. After being separated from active duty, he returned to Salisbury, N.C., and resumed work in the chemical field, becoming a well-known businessman in the Salisbury, N.C., community until his death on 2 January 2002. Rendleman was the father of Richard James Rendleman, Jr. (b. 1949), music composer and professor of finance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection includes correspondence, official United States Navy documents, and photographs, 1921-1969, with the bulk dating 1943-1946, when Richard James Rendleman was serving in the Navy. Letters deal with the Port Chicago explosion and its aftermath, as well as Rendleman's daily life during his service in Guam; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Okinawa, Japan. Included are a few items relating to a tennis tournament in Guam at which Rendleman met several players, including Bobby Riggs. Official documents relate to Rendleman's naval service during and after World War II and include service records, travel expense vouchers, orders to report to various bases, separation records, and discharge records. Many of the photographs, 1941-1946, provide visual evidence for subjects described in the letters, including the Port Chicago Incident; the tennis tournament in Guam; and a typhoon that hit Okinawa while Rendleman was stationed at the naval base there. Individuals in the photographs include Rendleman, his parents, friend Bob White, and tennis player Bobby Riggs. Also included is a photograph album that contains images, 1942-1946, mostly of family members, many of them unidentified.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Correspondence, 19 February 1943-12 July 1969.

56 items.

Arrangement: by subject, then chronological.

Folder 1

Port Chicago letters

Includes letters sent by Richard James Rendleman to his parents Mr. and Mrs. John L. Rendleman, describing the Port Chicago Incident and its aftermath. The letters also deal with the death of Lieutenant Robert White, a close friend of Rendleman, in the explosion, and Rendleman's subsequent trip to Springfield, Mo., to escort White's remains home. Also included are a letter and a newspaper article from 1969 about the United States Navy's attempts to purchase the town of Port Chicago, Calif.

Folder 2

Overseas letters

Includes letters from Rendleman to his parents dealing with his overseas service during and following World War II, including stops in Guam; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Okinawa, Japan. Letters mostly deal with military life and recreation. In particular, a series of letters describes a tennis tournament held at the naval base in Guam and Rendleman's conversations with tennis players Bobby Riggs, Don Budge, and Frank Parker.

Folder 3

Other letters and clippings

Includes miscellaneous letters, postcards, and birthday cards to and from Rendleman, as well as newspaper clippings from the local Salisbury, N.C., newspaper, the Post, telling of his experiences in the United States Navy.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. United States Navy Documents, 4 November 1921-10 December 1956.

About 75 items.

Arrangement: by subject, then chronological.

Documents pertaining to Richard James Rendleman's service in the United States Navy during and after World War II. Most of the documents are from personnel files. They include service records, travel expense vouchers, orders to report to various bases, separation records, and discharge records. Note that original file folder order has, for the most part, been retained.

Folder 4

United States Navy Officer Service Record

Folder 5

Officer's Qualification Record Jackets

Folder 6

Unidentified Personnel Folder

Folder 7

Miscellaneous Documents

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 3. Photographs, 1941-1946.

About 350 items.

Arrangement: by subject.

Photographs, 1941-1946, document Richard James Rendleman's service in the United States Navy during and after World War II. Many of the photographs provide visual evidence for some of the subjects described in the letters, including the Port Chicago Incident; the tennis tournament in Guam; and a typhoon that hit Okinawa, Japan, while Rendleman was stationed at the naval base there. Individuals in the photographs include Rendleman, his parents, friend Bob White, and tennis player Bobby Riggs. Also included is a photograph album that contains images, 1942-1946, mostly of family members, many of them unidentified.

Note that some of the loose photographs are duplicates of those in the photograph album.

Image Folder P-5167/1

Large photographs

Image Folder P-5167/2

Rendleman family photographs

Image Folder P-5167/3-5

P-5167/3

P-5167/4

P-5167/5

Dartmouth and Princeton photographs

Image Folder P-5167/6

Port Chicago photographs

Image Folder P-5167/7

Train trip photographs

Image Folder P-5167/8

Guam tennis photographs

Image Folder P-5167/9-12

P-5167/9

P-5167/10

P-5167/11

P-5167/12

Guam photographs

Image Folder P-5167/13-14

P-5167/13

P-5167/14

Honolulu photographs

Image Folder P-5167/15

Okinawa photographs

Image Folder P-5167/16-21

P-5167/16

P-5167/17

P-5167/18

P-5167/19

P-5167/20

P-5167/21

Miscellaneous World War II photographs

Photograph Album PA-5167/1

Photograph album

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Items Separated

Items separated include photographs (P-5167) and a photograph album (PA-5167)

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