Biographical / Historical

Son of George Winfree and Laura Jean Rutledge, Robert Clinton Rutledge attended George Washington High School and graduated from the University of Virginia in 1940. He taught at Staunton Military Academy until enlisting in the U.S. Army during World War II. He served in the Army with the 44th tank battalion in the Pacific Theater earning two bronze stars and two purple hearts. After the war, he received a masters in literature from GWU and a doctorate in 1964 from GWU. He taught French and Spanish at Episcopal Highschool in Alexandria. In the 1950's be became an associate professor of English Literature at GWU and later the associate dean of the Columbia College of Arts and Sciences. He retired in 1990. He married Virginia H. Rutledge and had two sons Robert and James. He died in 2004. Another correspondent, Harriet Hulfish, attended George Washington University during the dates of these papers. Her family were Alexandrians. Other Alexandrians corresponding with Robert Rutledge included Edith Hudson, and Marilee and Frances Baldwin. Rutledge also corresponded with Nancy Andrews of Philadelphia, Mary McCrary of St. Petersburg, Florida, and Sarah Lee Cabell of Dallas, Texas.

Content Description

The bulk of these papers are correspondence between Robert Rutledge and Harriet Hulfish. Besides information about their relationship, this correspondence refers to Army camp life where Rutledge was stationed in Camp Lee, Virginia; San Francisco, California; Tennessee; Kentucky; and Texas. The papers also contain an illustrated catalog of Staunton Military Academy, and a play and short stories authored by Rutledge.

Arrangement

The first series is correspondence to Robert Rutledge arranged alphabetically by the name of the writer. The second series is correspondence by Rutledge arranged chronologically.

Related Material

Photographs in this collection are represented by photocopies. Original photographs were transferred to Lloyd House photograph collection.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Letters.
• World War -- 1939-1945
• World War II