Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm82058222
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of Lewis Whitfield Colson, soldier, were given to the Library of Congress by Mrs. DeVer Colson in 1978.
The collection was processed in 1983. The finding aid was revised in 2010. The finding aid was updated in 2024 by Maria Farmer as part of a division-wide remediation project by the Inclusive Description Working Group.
Most photographs have been transferred to the Library's Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of these papers.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Lewis Whitfield Colson is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The Colson Papers are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Lewis Whitfield Colson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Lewis Whitfield Colson (1880-1961) span the years 1894-1950, with the bulk of the material from 1898 to 1902. The collection relates primarily to Colson's service as a private in the 23rd United States Infantry, 1899-1902, in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War. It consists largely of four narratives of the same experience: a one-volume handwritten diary, 1899-1902; a two-volume handwritten diary, apparently an expansion of the first diary; a typescript diary in six small notebooks, apparently an expansion of the two-volume diary; and a typescript in four notebooks containing an account in which personal experiences in the Philippines are combined with information from published sources about East Asia and the war with Spain. Although each succeeding account enlarges upon the narrative told by its predecessor, it also omits information previously offered. Thus each account makes a contribution; no one account is wholly incorporated in the others.
Also in the collection is a notebook of notes on the history of the 23rd Infantry as well as photographs and picture postcards from Colson's Philippine experience and his travels in East Asia.
This collection is arranged by type of material.