Collection Guide:
S-479-A
USS Aroostook “logalbum” containing 80 pages and 242 photographs, circa 1927-1928. Subjects include:
-Views of USS Aroostook
-Many stock views of battleships and aircraft carriers
- Aircraft: Vought OU-1 catapulted from USS Arizona (BB-39), Martin T3M floatplanes flying over Guantanamo Bay, Travel Air single-engine monoplane “Woolaroc”, Zenith “Albatross” tri-motor monoplane.
-Locations seen: Hawaii (Kilauwa & Mauna Kea volcanos); Oahu/Honolulu (hotels, Diamond Head, cathedral, beaches, temples, etc.); California (San Diego Harbor and Naval Training Station, San Francisco Harbor, St. Francis Dam collapse disaster, March 12, 1928 near Los Angeles), and New Zealand (Port Egmont).
-Personnel seen: Oscar W. Levy and family and friends.
S-479-B
USS Houston album containing 123 pages and 700 photos and documents of Levy’s service with the Asiatic Fleet, circa 1931-1933. Subjects include:
- Views of USS Houston: guns, catapult towers, O2U floatplanes, life rings, boat deck, mail bags, crew members, boxing and wrestling matches, swabbing decks, and funeral at sea of LCDR Benjamin F. Staud
- Crew ashore: baseball team, landing force at Dumanquilas Bay, Mindanao, ship’s Marines, landing from motor launches, medical corpsmen, etc.
-Charts of Houston’s cruises for 1930-1933
-Ships seen: USS Pittsburgh, USS Isabel, USS Heron, USS Aroostook, USS Pensacola, USS John D. Edwards, SS Nansenville, SS President Hoover, SS Kentucky, SS Oregon, SS Empress of Canada, as well as several Japanese light cruisers and transports.
- Locations seen: Hong Kong, Nanking, Tsingtao, Shanghai, Amoy, Chefoo, Hankow, Anking, Woosung, New York Navy Yard, Philippines (Cavite), Panama Canal, Bridgetown (British West Indies), Rotterdam and Southampton
-Views of the Sino-Japanese incident of 1932: combat operations, US sailors on guard, casualties and damage, barricades in Shanghai, and the Japanese Army in Woosung
-General activities and unidentified sailors and family members of Levy, Korean and Chinese prostitutes.
- Collection of documents and ephemera collected by Levy during cruise: tickets, postcards, passes, cards, ship menus, hotel cards, and programs.
The collection also includes 78 loose photographs not associated with the albums. They include images of USS Houston (CA-30) in Dewey Drydock, Olongapo; Indochina (city scenes, people, local boats, countryside, wildlife, and native peoples); Philippine Island views (Manila, Zamboanga, Iloilo, and Cebu); and several scenes of Maui, Hawaii; as well as several people photos of Levy and fellow sailors in restaurants.
