A Guide to the Elizabeth Jones Pierce Papers, 1919-2001
A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Accession Number 51535
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000
USA
Phone: (804) 692-3888 (Archives Reference)
Fax: (804) 692-3556 (Archives Reference)
Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives)
URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/
© 2015 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.
Processed by: Jim Greve
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
There are no access restrictions.
Use Restrictions
There are no use restrictions.
Preferred Citation
Elizabeth Jones Pierce Papers, 1919-2001. Accession 51535. Personal Papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Nancy Wright Beasley, North Chesterfield.
Biographical Information
Georgie Elizabeth Jones was born in Lynchburg, Virginia on 10 June 1923. She was the daughter of Thomas Edward Jones and Ethel May Smoot. She graduated from Madison Heights High School in Amherst County in 1941. On 10 June 1949, she married James Avery Pierce (1926-2003). They divorced in 1979. Elizabeth Jones Pierce died on 18 August 2013 and is buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Lynchburg.
Scope and Content
Papers, 1919-2001, of Elizabeth Jones Pierce (1923-2013) of Lynchburg, Virginia, including correspondence and subject files.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into the following series:
Series I. Correspondence. Series II. Subject Files.Contents List
The majority of the correspondence are post-World War II letters written to her by her husband James Avery Pierce (1926-2003) while he was serving in the Air Force and stationed in San Antonio, Texas, Okinawa, and Saudi Arabia. There are also letters written by her brother Benjamin Booker Jones (1922-2007) to their mother while he was serving in the Marine Corps during World War II. The letters written by her husband begin in June 1949 while he was a member of the 3701st Officer Training Squadron at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. He writes about his routine and demerits, finances, mail deliveries, her relocating so they can be together, housing arrangements, weather, coursework and exams, inspections, and planning for her arrival in San Antonio. This group of letters ends in August 1949. The letters dated November 1952 to January 1953 cover the period when James A. Pierce was at Camp Stoneman, California preparing to depart for Okinawa, his two week voyage aboard the USS General George M. Randall, and his time stationed at Naha Air Base. Topics include mail deliveries, weather, social activities, plans for her to join him, housing, employment opportunities for her, unhappiness with his assignment and job duties, loneliness, inquiries about family and friends, and holiday celebrations. The correspondence written from February 1959 to March 1960 details his work in the Comptroller's Office at Dhahran Airfield in Saudi Arabia. Subjects include the poor administration, efficiency, morale, and conditions at the base, mail deliveries, social and athletic activities, his hopes for a shorter length of tour, religious and other customs in the country, foreign relations, the possibility of her joining him or meeting her on leave, finances and stock purchases, and his upcoming assignment at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. There is a small group of letters written by Benjamin Booker Jones to his mother while he was serving in the Marine Corps, including his time in basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina, and his promotions and duties as a drill instructor there and at Duke University. He was also stationed at Quantico, Camp Lejeune, and Camp Pendleton, and then was shipped overseas to Guadacanal and Okinawa. Following the war, he was in Tsingtao, China. The correspondence ends in 1947 when he was living in Richmond, Virginia.
- Box 1
Folder 1
1941.
- Box 1
Folder 2
1942.
- Box 1
Folder 3
1943.
- Box 1
Folder 4-5
1944.
- Box 1
Folder 6
1945.
- Box 1
Folder 7
1947.
- Box 1
Folder 8
1949 (March, June).
- Box 1
Folder 9-11
1949 (July-August).
- Box 1
Folder 12
1949 (December).
- Box 1
Folder 13-17
1952 (November-December).
- Box 2
Folder 1-3
1953 (January).
- Box 2
Folder 4
1955.
- Box 2
Folder 5
1956.
- Box 2
Folder 6
1957.
- Box 2
Folder 7-15
1959 (February-June).
- Box 2
Folder 16
1959 (August).
- Box 3
Folder 1-2
1959 (November-December).
- Box 3
Folder 3-5
1960 (January-March).
- Box 3
Folder 6
Undated.
- Box 3
Folder 7-12
B. Booker Jones, 1942-1947.
The subject files contain an autograph album, clippings, foreign currency, diary (1945), greeting cards, military records, photographs, postcards, programs, and scrapbooks.
- Box 4
Folder 1
Accounts and Receipts.
- Box 4
Folder 2
Articles.
- Box 4
Folder 3
Autograph Album, 1936-1937 .
- Box 4
Folder 4
Automobile.
- Box 4
Folder 5
Birth Certificate - Benjamin Booker Jones.
- Box 4
Folder 6
Calendar, 1946 .
- Box 4
Folder 7
Carnegie Magazine (October 1958).
- Box 4
Folder 8
Clippings.
- Box 4
Folder 9
Currency.
- Box 4
Folder 10
Department of Defense Authorization Act Conference Report, 1985 .
- Box 4
Folder 11
Diary, 1945 .
- Box 4
Folder 12
Discharge - Thomas E. Jones, 1919 .
- Box 4
Folder 13
Divorce/Separation.
- Box 4
Folder 14
E.C. Glass High School - Class of 1941.
- Box 4
Folder n/a
E. C. Glass High School Yearbook, 1941 .
- Box 5
Folder 1
"Fort Mason - Gateway to the Pacific".
- Box 5
Folder 2
Greeting Cards.
- Box 5
Folder 3
Madison Heights High School 30th Class Reunion.
- Box 5
Folder 4
Maps.
- Box 5
Folder 5
Medals/Tags.
- Box 7
Folder n/a
Military Newsletters and Newspapers.
- Box 5
Folder 6
Military Records.
- Box 5
Folder 7
Miscellaneous.
- Box 5
Folder 8
Orient Digest (November 1954).
- Box 5
Folder 9
Panama Reassignment.
- Box 5
Folder 10
Patton, Gen. George.
- Box 7
Folder n/a
Photo Album.
- Box 5
Folder 11-15
Photo Album/Scrapbook of B. Booker Jones.
- Box 6
Folder 1-4
Photographs.
- Box 6
Folder n/a
Plaque - Defense General Supply Center, Richmond.
- Box 6
Folder 5
Postcards.
- Box 6
Folder 6
Programs.
- Box 6
Folder 7
Ration/Bond Books.
- Box 6
Folder 8
Report Cards/Tranacripts.
- Box 7
Folder n/a
Scrapbook of B. Booker Jones.
- Box 6
Folder 9
Senate Pass.
- Box 6
Folder 10
Smoot, Benjamin W.
- Box 6
Folder 11
Time Magazine (13 October 1952).
- Box 6
Folder 12
USS Daniel I Sultan.
- Box 6
Folder 13
"Views of the Overland Route".
- Box 6
Folder 14
"Welcome to Okinawa".
- Box 6
Folder 15
Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).