Gerald Packer Collection
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of a photograph album from the World War II era compiled by Gerald G.I. Packer featuring areas and comrades he served with during his Army training and service including Australia, New Guinea, Japan and the Philippine Islands. Many have identification included. There are a few loose photographs and negatives as well.
Correspondence includes two V-Mails dated January 1944, several holiday cards, and letters from Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa regarding obtaining military medals.
Realia includes insignias and two patches, tie tacks and pins, dog tag, empty boxes that formerly held medals, one box inscribed United States of America, coin sized John Deere medallions, a small brass plate with name Mr. Gerald Packer and an eye patch. There are two charge plates with the name Mrs. Gerald Packer; one from Petersen-Harned-Von Maur and one labeled Associates of Davenport.
Dates
- Creation: 1940-1987
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Materials are available for use in the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center only.
Request permission before copying materials.
Personal digital cameras and scanners are allowed in the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center on a case-by-case basis. The items that a researcher may want to scan or photograph must be examined and evaluated for physical condition, copyright issues, and donor restrictions by staff.
Copyright restrictions may apply; please consult Special Collections staff for further information.
The copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the making of reproductions of copyrighted material.
Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement.
Biographical / Historical
Gerald George Irving Packer was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin 21 July 1916 to Samuel and Besse (Schonfeld) Packer. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin and enlisted in the U.S. Army in November 1941. Packer served in the Philippine Islands, Australia, Japan and New Guinea. He earned the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. After his discharge as a sergeant in 1945 he was married to Betty Kay Klein in Davenport. He retired in 1981 from Mi-State Metropolitan Computer Commission where he was an accountant. He died in February 1993 in Davenport and is buried at Rock Island National Cemetery.
Extent
5 Linear Inch (in one 5" letter size manuscript box.)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in three series: I. Photographic images II. Correspondence III. Realia
Physical Location
Range 33 Section 09
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center Repository
321 Main Street
Davenport IA 52801-1490 United States
specialcollections@davenportlibrary.com