Marcia Watts papers

Collection — Container: Single Folder Collections - Box 3 (03.0051-03.0077), Folder: 03.0065 - Folder 1

Identifier: 03.0065

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of an oral history interview transcript of Marcia Wilkinson who served with the USO on the home front during World War II. This collection also contains personal photographs.

Dates

Created: 1943
Other: Date acquired: 04/28/2003

Creator

Watts, Marcia, 1927-2012 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to all researchers.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Biographical or Historical Information

Marcia Wilkinson Watts was born on June 2, 1927, in Gadsden, Alabama and died March 7, 2012, in Lakeland, Florida. While Watts was born in Gadsden, she was raised in Eufaula close to nearby military camps. At 16, Watts began participating in the USO. The USO bus toured her and other women to Fort Benning, Camp Rucker, and Napier Field for dances. Watts remembered her father, with his ear to the radio, listening to the news of Pearl Harbor years previous. She described her interactions with the soldiers with whom she danced. Watts also discussed racial segregation in her town and how her experience as a Roman Catholic shaped her perspective on the plight of African Americans.

Extent

1 folders

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Custodial History

Transferred from the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience to FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives in July 2022.

Source of Acquisition

Marcia Watts

Method of Acquisition

Donation

Subjects

Alabama Subject Source: Lcnaf
Camp Shows, Inc.
Dance Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Fort Benning (Ga.)
Gadsden (Ala.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941 Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1939-1945--African Americans Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1939-1945--United States Subject Source: Local sources