Originally published in the Cecil Whig
It was the mid 1940s. The world was at war. Men and women were fighting and dying from the Atlantic to the Pacific; from Europe and Africa to Asia. The fate of civilization itself seemed to hang in the balance. During this time of unthinkable horror come letters. Simple, handwritten, highly personalized letters between individuals, both male and female, describing everyday life of military men and civilian women at home, in training, and in the trenches. A decade or two ago, these letters were given to the Historical Society of Cecil County for preservation and public access, and there they sat, in a box, in relative obscurity… until now. Several months ago, a graduate student in the University of Delaware Museum Studies program changed all that. Her name was Anne Reilly. A native of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Anne is a PhD candidate in the American Civilizations Program. Upon entering the society she was handed the shoe box full of letters and told the correspondence was written to Position Classification Specialist, Morton Taylor, stationed at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds between 1943 and 1946. Her assignment was to review the letters, put them in some kind of order, store them in appropriate containers, and create a so called “finding aid,” so that anyone looking for World War II related letters could locate them.
In the course of her work, Anne found that the letters came from former classmates, fraternity brothers, and men (Morton) met during basic training. Anne also learned that Taylor was born in Aiken, Maryland, grew up in Perryville, graduated from the Tome Institute, and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland. He was drafted into the Army in 1943. That’s when the letters started.
“They give an interesting overview of servicemen experiences in the war. Some are in training in the U.S. and bases in other countries, but,” Anne determined, “some were serving in England, France, India, and the Philippines. Some were definitely in combat. They offer a picture of what life was like on these bases. They contain great descriptions,” Anne continues, “about food being served, shared experiences, reminiscing about parties they attended, meeting young women, people getting married, asking should they get married during war time, etc.” She says they wrote “less about reasons for fighting or the course of the war because the letters were censored. Obviously these men were longing for home and they were all always congratulating Morton for being able to stay so close to home.”
Anne reports that the women who wrote to Morton appear to be girlfriends he was dating during the war. “They were all at different times and sometimes from the letters it’s hard to tell how serious these relationships were. It appears that during that time it was OK to have multiple girlfriends and take them out, enjoy her company, and less about going steady. There are also letters from his mother, Sallie Nickle Taylor, living in Perryville.”
Anne says she found the letters in good physical condition. “They were still in their envelopes. It’s better to save letters flat, so the creases don’t get too worn, but they were fine. They looked like they had just come in the mail yesterday. I opened them up and found these words from the past that really bring the past to life.”
The letters no longer reside in their shoebox. “I took them out of the shoe box, out of their envelopes, put them in archival folders, arranged them by correspondent, then chronologically. The folders were then placed in an archival box. Even though Morton’s letters don’t survive, information about him can be gleaned from the orders he received. The finding aid I’ve written for the collection will be placed on the Society’s web site, so researchers can find and review the collection.”
That finding aid will be joined by a blog from Anne, describing the project. Both will go up on the site soon after Anne’s instructor approves them and forwards them to the Historical Society.
So what of Morton Taylor after the war? He was discharged from the Army in 1946, but remained as a civilian employee as a specialist in employee relations at the Bainbridge Naval Training Center in Port Deposit. He worked there for his entire working career.”
In civilian life, Morton joined the Historical Society of Cecil County serving as its recording secretary, trustee, curator, and its president in the 1960s. He also served as president of the Friends of the Rodgers Tavern, president of the Board of Trustees of the Cecil County Library, and governor of the Union room committee of the Maryland Historical Society, among other things. Morton Taylor died in 1998.