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.
Size | 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 200 items) |
Abstract | Robert Louis Stevens (1925-2003) of Asheville, N.C., served as an enlisted man in the United States Navy during World War II aboard the U.S.S. Doyle C. Barnes, a destroyer escort that saw duty in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. After completing his undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina in 1949, Stevens went on to a career in publishing and advertising in New York, N.Y. He also wrote short stories and plays. The collection contains letters from Stevens to his parents, 1944-1946. The letters document his service career from boot camp at the U.S. Naval Training Station in Bainbridge, Md., and radar school in Norfolk, Va., to escort and patrol duty in such locations as New Guinea, the Philippines, Borneo, and China. Subject matter primarily consists of daily life in training and active service, especially Stevens's literary interests. |
Creator | Stevens, Robert Louis, 1925-2003. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
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Robert Louis Stevens was born 11 July 1925. The son of Robert Alexander Stephens and Dorothy Sloan Stevens of Asheville, N.C., he matriculated at the University of North Carolina before being inducted into the United States Navy in February 1944. During World War II, Stevens served as a radarman third class aboard the U.S.S. Doyle C. Barnes, a destroyer escort that saw duty in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. After completing his undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina in 1949, Stevens went on to a career in publishing and advertising in New York, N.Y., while maintaining an avocation as an author of short stories and plays. He retired to Saint Augustine, Fla., and died 19 July 2003.
Back to TopThe collection contains letters, 1944-1946, from Robert Louis Stevens, a United States Navy enlisted man during World War II, to his parents in Asheville, N.C. The letters document his service career from boot camp at the United States Naval Training Station in Bainbridge, Md., and radar school in Norfolk, Va., to duty in the southwestern Pacific Ocean aboard the destroyer escort, U.S.S. Doyle C. Barnes. Subject matter primarily consists of daily life on escort and patrol duty in such locations as New Guinea, the Philippines, Borneo, and China, especially Stevens's reading habits and attempts to write his own plays and short stories. Also included are some samples of paper currency issued by the Japanese occupation government in the Philippines, as well as two photographs of Stevens in uniform.
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Folder 1-3
Folder 1Folder 2Folder 3 |
Letters, 1944 |
Folder 4-9
Folder 4Folder 5Folder 6Folder 7Folder 8Folder 9 |
Letters, 1945 |
Folder 10 |
Letters, January-February 1946 |
Image Folder P-5400/1 |
Photographs, circa 1944, circa 1945Photographs of Robert Louis Stevens in uniform. |