Scope and arrangement
The papers of Claude Leland date from 1891 to 1944 and include writings, letters, sketches, photographs, clippings and notes. The bulk of the materials relate to his book From Shell Hole to Chateau With Company I; Personal Recollections of a Line Officer of the 107th Infantry, 27th Division in France, 1918. The author's notes, manuscript copy and typescript copy for this work are all included in the collection. Photographs, post cards and sketches, most of which appear in the published edition, are well identified and depict members of Company I, various farms and homes where the Company was billeted and views of the battle areas where the Company was engaged. Views of Ypres, Abeele, Dickebusch and St. Souplet among other areas, span the years from about 1910 to 1930. A file card index provides excellent access to names and places in the manuscript.
Correspondence from this period includes letters from families of soldiers under Leland's command, and copies of letters which Leland sent to his family from France in 1918. Both the manuscript materials and correspondence from World War I provide an interesting account of Leland's experiences, and more generally, of the experience of the U. S. troops from training camp to battlefield.
Materials relating to Leland's career as Superintendent of Libraries are mainly limited to letters from friends and associates upon his retirement in 1943. Letters from an earlier stage in his career include signed correspondence from John Burroughs and Melvil Dewey.