Describing Archives: A Content Standard

NTE2cg26.xml Guide to the Jay Mark Gleason Papers 1933-1942 Gleason (Jay Mark) Papers Finding aid prepared by Lawrence Stark Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections © 2021 Finding aid encoded by Suzanne James-Bacon. 2021 Finding aid written in English. English. Finding aid based on DACS 2nd Edition ( Describing Archives: A Content Standard). Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections Cage 26 Gleason, Jay Mark, 1881-1956. Jay Mark Gleason Papers 1933-1942 4 Linear feet of shelf space 8 Boxes Correspondence, orders, official memoranda and notes about Jay Mark Gleason's duties as chaplain, superintendent of chaplains, and welfare and public relations officer of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Collection materials are in English

Born in Illinois in 1881, Jay Mark Gleason had held a parish in Michigan and had been an Army Chaplain with the AEF in France before coming to Washington state as the pastor of the Ellensburg Presbyterian Church. He resigned his Ellensburg parish in 1921, and apparently tried ranching in the Yakima area for several years. A Yakima County district elected him to the State House of Representatives in 1932 and he served as a member of both the regular and special sessions of 1933. In early 1933, he became one of the thousands of Army reserve officers who were called to active duty to superintend the Civilian Conservation Corps. When the CCC became a permanent formation in late 1933, Gleason elected to remain at his job as district Chaplain for the Fort George Wright District, Spokane. He remained at that post until the liquidation of the CCC in 1942. Gleason died in the early 1950s in Edmonds, Washington.

The United States Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a federal agency, first created as an emergency employment measure in 1933 (Emergency Conservation Work), becoming an independent agency in 1937, and active until it was abolished in 1943. It provided employment and vocational training primarily for unemployed youths, but also for war veterans and Indians. CCC projects included construction, conservation, natural resources development, forest protection, and defense work on military reservations.

The papers of Captain Jay M. Gleason consist of his Civilian Conservation Corps correspondence, including orders and official memoranda, his diaries and notes, the yearbooks which he produced and the photographs he collected for the yearbooks, and various Civilian Conservation Corps ephemeral publications such as camp and district newspapers.

The arrangement of the papers is divided into three series: correspondence (with personal papers), published material and photographs.

This collection is open and available for research use.

[Item description]

Jay Mark Gleason Papers, 1933-1942 (Cage 26)

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

The papers of Jay Mark Gleason, Captain, Chaplain-Reserve United States Army and District Chaplain, Fort George Wright District Civilian Conservation Corps, were donated to the Washington State University Library in 1958 by Captain Gleason's children, Mrs. Jean Gleason Witt of Edmonds, Washington and Mr. Bob Gleason of Des Moines, Washington.

This collection was processed by Lawrence R. Stark, September, 1972.

Some discussion of Captain Gleason's work with the CCC can be found in the (unpublished) Master's thesis: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Washington State by Robert Carroll Washington State University, 1972.

Other CCC-related archival collections in MASC:

Robert Wesley Carroll Papers, 1938-1972 (Cage 75)

George T. Spinning Papers, 1935-1938 (Cage 252)

Arthur Earl Victor Papers, 1927-1944 (Cage 376)

Elmo Richardson Papers, 1930-2011 (Cage 582)

Stuart Wright Civilian Conservation Corps Scrapbooks, 1933-1936 (Cage 784)

Civilian Conservation Corps Newsletters, Co. 554, Genesee, ID, 1937, undated (Cage 4953)

Civilian Conservation Corps Company 1312, Moscow, ID Roster, 1934-1935 (Cage 4960)

Civilian Conservation Corps Ephemera Collection, 1935-1940 (Cage 4992)

Civilian Conservation Corps, Camp Willow Creek, Co. 2524 Papers, 1936-1937 (Cage 5022)

Civilian Conservation Corps Educational Program Literature Collection, 1935-1936 (Cage 5033)

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Gleason, Jay Mark, 1881-1956. -- Archives. Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.) -- Records and correspondence. Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.) -- History -- Sources. Public Works Washington (State) Series 1: Correspondence and Personal Papers 1 1-7 Correspondence. A chronologically arranged sequence of correspondence with CCC and Army officials, enrollees, personal friends and various political figures. The letters are concerned with all the phases of Gleason's work: clerical, social, administrative and publicity. 1933-1942 2-3 8-18 Orders and official memoranda. A chronologically arranged sequence of Gleason's orders concerning his appointment, reappointments, assignments, and travel. Official memos were from both Army and CCC superiors and are usually explanations of CCC policy. 1933-1942 3 19 Diaries. Gleason's diaries are dated June 2, 1933-Jan. 19, 1934, Sept. 1, 1935, Jan. 1, 1936-Dec. 31, 1936, March 25- July 30, [1937], July 31, 1937-Dec. 31, 1937, Jan. 1, 1938-June 18, 1938. 1933-1938 3 20-21 Notes, anecdotes and clippings collected by Gleason for use in speeches, sermons, and papers. Drafts of some of Gleason's compositions are included. Also included are materials used for teaching a class in citizenship. Series 2: Printed Materials 3 22 Yearbooks (1) 1937, (2) 1938-1939, (3) Pictorial Review, 1940. 1937-1940 CCC Ephemera 4 23 Fort George Wright District Headquarters News materials: CCC news, 1933, Microphone 1935, news releases, radio scripts. 20 items. 4 24 Camp Newspapers from camps at Priest River, Id., Avery, Id., Worley, Id., Lake Chatcolet, Id., Riggins, Id., Metaline Falls, Wa., and Republic, Wa. 1934-1938 20 items. 4 25-27 CCC pamphlets, enrollee's guide, Songbook, National Directory, Medical Manual, morale pamphlets, chaplaincy literature, greeting cards, banquet programs, etc. 25 items. 4 28 Maps showing the locations of various CCC camps. 25 items. 4 29 Manuscript of short story about CCC. "Love and Adventure" by Harvey Smith McCowan. 30 p. Series 3: Photographs 5-9 Photographs collected for use in Yearbook or Pictorial Review. Most are photos of groups of enrollees, supervisory personnel, camp scenes, and work scenes. Many are partially identified and fuller identification is to be found in the printed yearbooks in folder 22. 8 Miscellaneous photographs, mostly of Command personnel and staff at Fort George Wright, many identified.