Conditions Governing Use

Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Preferred Citation:

Beatrice Jeanne Wright Diary, 1948-1949, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchase from Travistock Books, 2018.

Scope and Contents

Travel diary of Beatrice Jeanne Wright while en route from San Francisco, California to Guam, with a three day stop in Hawaii, in the Fall of 1948. Wright records her experiences of her journey on board the USS General H. W. Butner (AP-113), the people she met and interacted with, her time in Hawaii while en route, and her daily life once she arrived in Guam. Wright's work in Guam was in the capacity of a U.S. Government civil service employee. She spends a great deal of time detailing her relationships with her co-workers, roommates and newly found friendships with other women and men. She also comments regularly about the weather noting rain fall and typhoon conditions. Interspersed with her entries are ship's bulletins from the USS General H. W. Butner, church service programs, and personal ephemera items related to her journey to Guam. The diary includes two manila envelopes that contained pictures of Marine Corps Barracks, pictures of Beatrice Jeanne Wright and Jerry Jarrett, codochrome slides and two negatives of the two individuals.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Civil servants
• Guam
• Women--Diaries
• Women--Travel