Poulson, Bernard Private, 1919

This collection consists primarily of correspondence from the company Art in Buttons, Inc. to enslisted WWI soldiers who were company employees stationed in France. Form letters were sent near or after the end of WWI in 1918 and into 1919, signed by company chairman Robert E. Consler. The letters give updates about company news, life Rochester, and soldiers returning home from France. There is also compiled news from soldiers that are compiled into a letter, and some more direct personal correspondence accompanying the formulaic text.

Other form printed materials were sent to multiple soldiers: (1) one of the company’s published two volumes of Art in Buttons (a “Factory Edition” periodical from 1906 – 1931), Vol. XVI (October 1918) and Vol. XVII (March 1919), which detail the company’s annual field days, sports teams, and updates about employees in the service; (2) an expert from the book/memoir Over There With the Australians by Captain Reginald Hugh Knyvett (15th Australian Infantry), published early in April 1918; and (3) A program for “Christmas Sing - Dec 24, 1918” which includes 8 songs, some with printed lyrics. There are additional printed exceprts from stories or journals.