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No special access restriction applies.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Dr. J.C. Easton, History Professor, Papers, A&M 2324, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

Jason Clark Easton was born in 1892 to Lucien and Mary Easton of Lacrosse, Wisconsin. Easton entered the Westminster School in Simsbury, Connecticut in 1907, graduating in 1911. He attended Yale University in 1911-1915, earning a B.A. in history.

When war broke out in Europe in 1914, known today as World War I (WWI) or the First World War, the United States was initially determined to remain neutral, but later joined the Allies in 1917, sending hundreds of thousands of troops to Europe, including Clark Easton. The bespectacled college graduate began his army career as a sergeant in the 77th Division. He was made a non-commissioned instead of a commissioned officer due to his compromised eyesight. The 77th Division saw its share of fighting on the Western Front, including the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in August, 1918. This successful advance was planned by Colonel George C. Marshall. Marshall also was involved in the execution of the attack. By September, Easton was promoted to Second Lieutenant and sent to Intelligence School to be trained as an interpreter. After the Armistice of November 11, 1918, Clark Easton was assigned to General Pershing's staff during the 1919 Peace Conference. Another promotion to First Lieutenant followed as Easton witnessed the creation of a treaty agreement that would deeply affect the world for generations.

Easton came home in the fall of 1919 with an honorable discharge in hand, taking jobs in banking and investments in Lacrosse and later in Chicago. In 1931 Easton returned to his academic pursuits at Northwestern University, graduating in 1932 with a M.A. in History, and earning his PHD in History at the University of Wisconsin in 1937. Dr. Easton taught briefly at the University of Idaho before beginning a thirty five year career at West Virginia University in 1938. He was married to Joy Bromberg, a West Virginia native and teacher, who was born in Charleston on 20 June 1925. Dr Jason Clark Easton died in 1972 in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Scope and Contents

Lecture notes, clippings, notes, and drafts for A History of European Civilization, Volume 1, and other miscellaneous papers of Jason C. Easton, former professor of history at West Virginia University (WVU).

The collection also contains Dr. Easton's correspondence with several former students serving in the military during World War II dating from ca. 1942-1946. These include, among others, letters from Ford Lewis Battles and Thomas Ennis, assigned to Military Intelligence, and Robert Scott, an army Lieutenant killed in action in February, 1945. Other WWII items include ration books for food, gasoline, and liquor; and two unpublished sound recordings on disc of a radio discussion by J.C. Easton and Clark Ennis regarding the question of which nation the United States should support following World War II, Germany or Russia.

There is also an album of photographs, some identified, of members of the Young family of Charleston, West Virginia, dating from ca. 1860-1890.

There is a French to English translation by Easton of a novel by Louis Dumur entitled "Behind the Lines," a story set during World War I.

Addenda, in two document cases, include:

Lieutenant Clark Easton's World War I ledger containing class notes and instructional material from an Army Intelligence School, for period 30 September 1918 to 9 November 1918, regarding 'Operations of Intelligence'. Topics include: scouts, observers, snipers, geography, map reading, study of aerial photographs, and codes and ciphers, among others subjects. Also contains information on the German Military, including all branches and their histories and development during the war, commands, uniforms, tactics, and weapons, including gas. There are also notes regarding the tank corps of the British and Americans, and a document labeled 'German Army-Secret' pertaining to Model's '1st Res. Div.'.

Several programs from West Virginia University (WVU) events, clippings regarding WVU professors, and a listing of WVU students and graduates killed in World War II obtained by Easton.

A payment voucher dated 11 May 1862 authorized by James M. Moore for the 'Comedore [Commodore] of the Boats on the Kanawhoway' [Kanawha River] to pay $27.00 to Captain John D. Young for work on 'Batto [bateau] No 16'.

A eulogy written in October 1863 by Virginia Military Institute (VMI) cadet Samuel Francis Atwill, regarding Lt. General Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson. Cadet Atwill was mortally wounded at the Battle of New Market in the Shenandoah Valley on 15 May 1864, where the Confederate General John C. Breckinridge engaged in battle the entire cadet corps of VMI, most between the ages of 15 and 19, in order to close an opening in his lines. Cadet Atwill had just celebrated his 18th birthday.

A three page Civil War narrative, possibly transcribed from a diary, by an unknown soldier, titled 'Day Book, Barboursville W Va., Jan 1st 1865'. It describes the author's participation in the 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign under Union commander General David Hunter during the period 1 January to 31 July 1864. The beginning of the narrative places his unit (unidentified) at Barboursville. They later marched to Lewisburg, West Virginia, Staunton, Virginia, and other places. On 13 June, at Lexington, Virginia, they 'burned all public buildings' and 'John Letcher [Governor of Virginia] house was burned'. They also skirmished and tore up railroad tracks.

A history book, 'History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens', by W.S. (William Sidney) Laidley; publisher: Richmond-Arnold, 1911, Chicago, Ill. Additional copies are available in WVU Libraries book collections.

Copies of French World War II newspaper "Pour La Victoire"; copies of Morgantown newspaper with headlines regarding the invasion of Poland (September 1939) and Pearl Harbor attack (December 1941); 1940s (in flat storage box)

Related Material

2324, 3584

Separated Material

To rare books: Author: Cooke, John Esten, 1830-1886. Title: The life of Stonewall Jackson. From official papers, contemporary narratives, and personal acquaintance. By a Virginian. Publisher: New York, C. B. Richardson, ca. 1863, (1863 printing). Description: 305 p. 2 port. (incl. front.) 19 cm. Notes: "Reprinted from advance sheets of the Richmond edition". Many other books were separated from this collection; a listing of them can be found in the control folder for this collection. To West Virginia Collection books: "Essays in Social Science. In Memory of Jacob Saposnekow." (1958).

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Ambler, Charles Henry, 1876-1957
• Dumur, Louis
• Easton, Jason Clark, 1892-1972
• Jackson, Stonewall, 1824-1863
• Photography
• West Virginia University. Department of History
• World War, 1914-1918
• World War, 1939-1945
• Young family