Donald E. Baker Collection, 1939-2015

Donald (Don) E. Baker was born in 1918. Baker petitioned and received conscientious objector status during World War II. On January 21, 1942 Baker was assigned to Civilian Public Service Camp 21 at Cascade Locks, Oregon. The men at the Cascade Locks camp worked during the day as foresters. Their responsibilties included logging, planting, building roads, and fighting fires. Baker was also involved with the printing of the camp newsletter and the first two issues of The Illiterati, a literary journal edited and published by Baker, Kemper Nomland, and Kermit Sheets. In 1944 Baker walked out of the camp in an act of protest. Soon after he was arrested by Federal authorities and sentenced to prison at McNeil Island Prison in Washington. This collection includes letters sent to Baker while he was in prison by his close friend and fellow C.O., James Townsend. Townsend kept Baker informed about activities at Cascade Locks and the two carried on philosophical discussions about their roles as conscientious objectors.

After the war Baker, like many of his fellow C.O.'s, settled in San Francisco where he worked as a printer until retirement. Baker died on September 30, 2015.