Egner, Robert W. / United States Navy

[World War Two] Extensive Archive Documenting the U.S.S. Quincy World War II Naval Ship 1943-1946 Including 35 Rare Shipboard Newspapers Along With 1.5 Linear Feet of Ephemera

1943-1946. Archive Documenting the U.S.S. Quincy World War II Naval Ship, 1943-1946

1.5 linear feet including correspondence, press releases, naval training notes, 35 rare naval newsletters, 21 telegram communications (two of which were handwritten), United States and international newspapers and clippings, printed material and rare naval publications. Nearly all items in Very Good or better condition; the expected light edge wear and toning to a few documents and newsletters, a few fragments.

This is a fantastic collection of original materials documenting the U.S.S. Quincy, a celebrated naval ship during World War II. The materials were created and collected by Robert W. Egner,
a Lieutenant and main battery gunnery officer on the Quincy.

The ship was a heavy cruiser built by the Bethlehem Steel Company to replace the Quincy that was lost in the surprise attack on Guadalcanal in 1942. It was launched June 23, 1943 and commissioned in Boston that year on December 15. A press release found in the collection, dated September 17, 1945, which gives a report and history of the ship, noted: “Holder of many ‘firsts’ during her sea career, the United States Heavy Cruiser, U.S.S. Quincy, is also believed to be the first U.S. warship to bombard the homelands of the two former Axis partners - Germany and Japan.”

Within a packet of newspaper clippings collected by Egner’s parents on a variety of World War II naval ships and ventures: “Here is a pictorial story of a German surrender in two scenes. At top, the U.S.S. Quincy has opened up on a Nazi-held fort on the French coast. A Yank plane, photographing the scene, also was recording the effect of the bombardment on the fort. Suddenly a German appeared with hands up and a white flag waving and the pilot radioed back to the warships that they could cease fire.”

This collection contains 35 rare newsletters, most of which were printed and published by the Quincy’s crew and vary in title. No holdings of any of these newsletters were found in OCLC. They contain news “on our fighting fronts,” news from back home, news of the war from around the world, sports scores and standings. There are also issues with a much more artsy lean, including a few editions of “The SeaWolf,” which held jokes, art, cartoons, and “all the dope that’s fit to quote.” An 18 pp. “Victory Souvenir” special edition of “The SeaWolf” had art printed in color as well as “The Quincy Chronology” of all of the ship’s world travels from its commission in 1943 to September 17, 1945.

According to Egner’s obituary, “One of Bob’s greatest Naval experiences was taking President Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference aboard the Quincy.” One of the ship’s newsletters found in the collection was a special edition of “The Star,” which gave a 12 pp. “Report of the Crimea Conference, February 14, 1945.” The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference, was the meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union for the purpose of discussing Europe’s postwar reorganization following WWII. Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to meet in Malta for preliminary discussions; four meetings were held at Montgomery House in Floriana and the fifth was held aboard the U.S.S. Quincy.

Also in this collection are naval memoranda, duty assignments, hotel receipts, menus, maps and newspapers Egner collected from around the world. There are rosters of officers, poems, and a typed letter to “My dear Boy” from Egner’s father, dated August 16, 1945: “First, Bob, let us fervently thank God Almighty that this thing is over; terrible, horrible, or what else we want to call it, it is that and much more. I never thought, in 1919 that any son of mine would be at it again 25 years later.” There is also a letter to Egner from a buddy stationed in China, written in September 1945.

Egner graduated with a degree in accounting from Pace Institute in New York in 1943, and the collection includes correspondence and press releases concerning the school’s accreditation and serving as a center for a qualifying test for the Navy College Training Program. There is also his Selective Service Questionnaire; a printed document, “Information for Candidates for Appointment as Midshipmen, U.S. Naval Reserve, 1942-1943”; and approximately 320 pages of lined notebook paper composed of Egner’s notes from naval training, written in a clear hand.

The ship was awarded the World War II Victory Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two battle stars, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two battle stars, and the National Defense Service Medal, among other recognitions. In honor of the meeting between Saudi's King Abdul Aziz and Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard Quincy, the official residence of the American ambassador to Saudi Arabia is named Quincy House.

Rare, well-preserved source material documenting an important World War II naval ship. See below for a list of publications, printed material, newsletters and newspapers present in the collection.

Newsletters:

13” x 8”, 4-8 pp. each:
- U.S.S. Quincy Morning News Press, February 3, 1944
- U.S.S. Quincy Daily Star, July 11, 1945
- The Star, May 9, 1945
- U.S.S. Quincy Daily Star, August 12, 1945
- U.S.S. Quincy Daily Star, August 22, 1945
- U.S.S. Quincy Daily Star, August 24, 1945
- U.S.S. Quincy Daily Star, August 16, 1945
- 3 copies of a 17 ½” x 11” newsletter “U.S.S. Quincy Goes Into Action” composed of articles by Richard L. Strout, Staff Correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor with the Allied Invasion Sources and Amasa Howe of the Boston Daily Globe. Includes centerfold of images with note: “This souvenir compiled and printed by the Dallas Morning News of Dallas, Texas, as a courtesy to the officers and crew of the U.S.S. Quincy” circa March 1945

13” x 8”, single sheet printed both sides, two hole punched at top:
“V-7 Newsnotes”, USNR Midshipmen’s School, New York, New York
- Nos. 12-17, 28, 33-38 (April 9 - October 8, 1943)

- One issue of the USS New York “Radio Press News”, November 24, 1943 (6 pp.) and an original poem, “The Laws of the Navy” by Ronald A. Hopwood

8¼” x 6½”:
- “Welcome”, July 8, 1945
- “The SeaWolf”, July 26, 1945
- “The SeaWolf”, August 10, 1945
- The Missourian, October 27, 1945

- SeaWolf, 18 pp. “Victory Souvenir” special edition with art printed in color and “The Quincy Chronology” of all of its world travels from its commission in Boston in December 1943 to September 17, 1945

- 2 issues of the “Quincy Smoker" reporting on sports competitions between the Quincy and the USS Baltimore, with entertainment “featuring the Baltimore Swing Band. Hot and Sweet on the Beat aided and abetted by the Quincy Round Up Boys”

- “F.D.Reporter” USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, Vol. 1, No. 3, “published for the crew by the crew for Christmas”, 1945


Printed material:
- The Commissioning of the U.S.S. Quincy CA-71 December 15, 1943 program
- 16th Anniversary Marine Detachment list of officers and food menu
- Adelphi Hotel Glasgow dinner menu
- Lucas in San Francisco menu
- “Speeding the Great Day”: “graphic story of an epic Naval battle in the Solomons”
- Invitation to the ceremonies to be held in connection with the placing of the USS Quincy in commission in reserve at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, August 14, 1946
- List of attendees upon the “1945 Presidential Cruise 23 Jan. - 27 Feb.” including FDR, Churchill, King Farouk of Egypt, Ibn Saud, King of Saudi Arabia, and Haile Selassie

Newspapers:
- Sunday News: New York’s Picture Newspaper. Vol. 25, No. 26, October 28, 1945. Cover headline: “Truman Bans Force Rule By Any Nation”; large image of “Ships, Planes and Crowds” at Navy Day
- Dorset Daily Echo and Weymouth Dispatch, No. 6207, June 23, 1944
- Southern Times, Vol. XCII, No. 4914, June 23, 1944
- Le Journal D’Egypte: Journal egpytien de langue francaise, February 11, 1944
-Times of Malta, No. 2793, August 10, 1944
- Evening Citizen, No. 24,959, May 24, 1944

Other publications:
- Answers to Servicemen’s Questions… War Service Bureau, The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, 1945 (not found in OCLC)
- Authentic Japanese Surrender Document. Presented by courtesy of Schlitz Milwaukee Post No. 411 to the delegates attending The American Legion National Convention, Chicago, Illinois, 1945 (not found in OCLC)
- The Naval Officers’ Uniform Plan with laid in price list and approved dealers in New York City, 1943 (only five holdings in OCLC)
- TIME, March 26, 1945
- TIME, September 24, 1945
- TIME Pony edition, November 26, 1945
- Captain Bryan’s Pacific War Atlas (Fifth Edition, 1945)
- Recognition Journal Number 14, October 1944. Published by the U.S. War and Navy Departments with the Assistance of Time, Inc.
- U.S. Navy at War: Second Official Report by Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King. Covering Combat Operations March 1, 1944 to March 1, 1945. Compliments of The United States News
- Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin, Number 337, April 1945
- Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin, Number 338, May 1945
- All Hands: The Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin, Number 339, June 1945
- Program for Pace Institute Annual Graduation Class of 1947 and Wartime Graduates of 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945 & 1946. Item #399

Price: $2,750.00