Seaman Second Class James C. Clemens, USN
An Inventory of His Collection in the Navy Department Library
Table of Contents
Overview of the Collection
Biographical Note
Scope and Contents
Arrangement
Detailed Description of the Collection
Photographic Album Compiled During Service with the Asiatic Fleet, 1933-1934
Subject Folders
Restrictions
Index Terms
Administrative Information
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Biographical Note
James C. Clemens was born on 12 November 1913 at Walsenburg, Colorado. He enlisted in the US Navy as an apprentice seaman on 23 January 1933. During his brief period of enlistment, Seaman Second Class (2/c) Clemens served on USS Saratoga, USS Monocacy, USS Luzon, and USS Henderson before being honorably discharged from the US Naval Hospital, Mare Island, California on 1 March 1935. James C. Clemens is believed to have passed away in 2004.
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Scope and Contents
The collection consists of one photographic album compiled during Seaman 2/c Clemens's service with the Asiatic Fleet, miscellaneous ephemera related to his naval service, materials on the Yangtze River Patrol Association, and an incomplete run of the association's newsletter Yangtze River Patroller.
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Arrangement
Loose materials relating to Seaman 2/c Clemens's naval service and those relating to the Yangtze River Patrol Association are arranged and housed in individual subject folders.
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Detailed Description of the Collection
| Photo Album Compiled During Service With the Asiatic Fleet, 1933-1934. | ||
| Meticulously captioned photo album containing over 200 black and white images collected by Seaman 2/c Clemens while serving in the Navy. The bulk of the photographs are snapshots showing various places of interest, buildings, and the local population taken in Shanghai, Canton, Hong Kong, Cheefoo and Nanking. There are also a number of photographs taken in Guam and Hawaii. As well as 36 photographs of the Sino-Japanese conflict dated 1932. Scattered throughout the album are photographs of USS Monocacy and USS Henderson as well as various naval personnel that were probably shipmates of Clemens. The album also contains two colorful certificates and a few pieces of ephemera related to the Far East. Items of particular interest include: | ||
| "Domain of the Golden Dragon: Ruler of the 180th Meridian," dated 26 January 1934 (certificate) | ||
| "Yangtsze [sic] River Rats Certificate of Service," dated 34 February 1934 | ||
| "The Philippines," colorful cartoon with humorous poem about life in the Asiatic Fleet | ||
| "A Quiet Day in Shanghai," cartoon with humorous poem about that city | ||
| USS Monocacy at Shanghai, China (8x10 BW photo) | ||
| Ship's Company of USS Monocacy (8x10 BW photo) | ||
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Restrictions
Restrictions on Use
Manuscripts are unavailable for loan and must be consulted in the library. Photocopying of manuscripts is generally prohibited, though the use of digital cameras by researchers to reproduce non-copyrighted materials is permitted. Permission to photocopy a limited number of pages may be granted by the reference staff, contingent upon the physical state of items. All photocopying of materials shall be done by the reference staff, or under their close supervision. The use of personal scanners by non-library staff personnel must be approved by the reference staff on a document-by-document basis (Reference: Naval History and Heritage Command Instruction [NAVHISTCENTINST] 5070.1C.).
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Index Terms
This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Personal subject:
Corporate subject:
United States. Navy. Asiatic Fleet
Yangtze River Patrol Association
Subject term:
Sailors--History--20th Century
Scrapbooks
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Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Cite as: Historical Manuscripts, Navy Department Library, Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington, DC, James C. Clemens Collection.
Processing Information
The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Thomas Wildenberg in September 2004.
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