William F. Porter papers
Collection
Identifier: 2010_086-UA
The overwhelming bulk of his personal papers chronicle his service during WWI in the U. S. Army Medical Corps (then known as the Sanitary Corps) as a member of a “Casual Operating Team.” The papers include what you would expect a soldier to save: induction and discharge papers, travel and other papers associated with training in Georgia, transportation to and from the war theatre in France, operation of the field military hospital, cloth military insignia, and miscellanea documenting troop entertainment, leaves, a visit to the Folies Bergѐre, wartime patriotic expressions, and a sought-after promotion.
There are photos from his military training as well as both the exterior and interior of his French “evacuation” hospital. The later includes an operating room and soldiers with orthopedic rigging in hospital beds. An undated obituary is also found.
No restrictions.
0.25 linear feet (1 half-manuscript box)
William F. Porter was born in Wise, Virginia in 1889. According to a Kentucky medical licensure document, he was graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Louisville in 1911. After graduation, he was licensed to practice medicine in both Kentucky and Virginia. Following WWI, Dr. Porter became a physician in Hot Springs, AR until his death at age 73 in either 1962 or 1963.
Part of the University of Louisville Archives and Special Collections Repository