American Gold Star Mothers, Inc., Records
Catalog Record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm78010678
General International Standard for Archival Description
Manuscript Division Library of Congress Washington, D.C.
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2010
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
American Gold Star Mothers, Inc., Records 1917-1941
American Gold Star Mothers, Inc.
Biographical History for: American Gold Star Mothers, Inc., Records 1917-1941
Organizational History On June 4, 1928, the American Gold Star Mothers, Inc., was organized in Washington, D.C., by Grace Darling Seibold (died 1947) and twenty-five other mothers whose sons had lost their lives in military service during World War I. The organization was named after the gold star that families hung in their window in honor of the deceased veteran. Membership was reopened in 1942 for mothers who had lost a son or daughter in World War II, then for the Korean Conflict, and later for mothers of American military personnel killed while on active duty.
Scope and Content Note The records of American Gold Star Mothers, Inc., a national patriotic organization of mothers of American military personnel who lost their lives in the service of the country, span the years 1917-1941. The collection consists of correspondence, membership applications, minute book, clippings, scrapbooks, legal papers, roll and record books, printed and near-print matter, photographs, drafts of legislation, and a copy of the constitution with an appended list of charter members. Also in the collection are press releases and publicity material about conventions, records concerning litigation undertaken to protect the name of the group from infringement, and some papers relating to the insignia of the organization. The scrapbooks contain clippings, invitations, photographs, and programs.
file
Membership applications
General
A-E
F-K
L-Q
R-V
W-Z
Honorary and inactive
Inactive, A-L
Deceased members
Correspondence, 1931-1941
Clippings
Conventions reports
Financial records
History of insignia
Insurance policies
Legislation, certificates of incorporation, and constitution
Minute book, 1930-1934
Petitions for charters
Programs
Record book
Scrapbooks, circa 1933-circa 1939 See Oversize
Oversize
Scrapbooks, circa 1933-circa 1939