The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

	historynow@gilderlehrman.org

I stumbled upon your website when doing research on a specific unit during WWII. I've had a hard time finding any information on my topic, and hope you may be able to help.

I'm trying to uncover information about motorcycle dispatch units that operated within the United States during WWII. (These units couriered messages and documents between army bases in the U.S. ; I've seen these couriers referred to as "civilian motorcycle dispatch riders"). I've found some photographs of motorcycles used, the outfits these riders wore, etc., but I haven't found any substantial information about how these units were trained, what their day to day operations entailed, how may dispatchers operated within the United States, etc. Basically, I haven't found much of anything.

I made an electronic research request to the National Archives in D.C., but they couldn't locate anything. I spoke with a librarian at West Point , but she was unable to find any information. I've looked at some WWII books with no luck. There appears to be little to nothing online about these specific units. (I'm located in New York City -- My next stop would be the New York Public Library).

Any ideas?

Thank you very much for your time!! I appreciate any feedback you can provide.

Sincerely,

Korenne

Answer: Dear Ms. Haller:

You've moved into one of the embarrassing gaps in the writing of the history of America's waging of World War II -- the non-industrial work of civilians on the homefront. Would you believe that there isn't even a decent (or semi-decent) study of the volunteer civil defense movement much less paid civilians
doing work for the military or state and local governments?

Studies of women in wartime touch on these subjects, but no one's bothered with a thorough study. So -- you'll have to go ground up.

You say you're working on a "specific unit" of motorcycle couriers/dispatch riders. Do you mean a unit working in a specific area? If so, you may be in better shape than someone trying to do a general study of the unit. I suspect that the records of each unit remain with the archives of the naval/military bases they served. These records, in turn, will be in regional NARA sites.

Give me a more precise idea of what you're studying, and we'll attack from there.

Thanks for giving me such an interesting, if frustrating, challenge. On the homefront in Elmira , N.Y. , during the War, my father was an air raid warden; one aunt was an ambulance driver; and another aunt was part of a volunteer medical corps. I'm a bit offended that such work by millions of Americans has been ignored by scholars.

In the process of looking for material for you, I came across this interesting site about the use of volunteers by the Los Angeles Police Dept. Gives me hope that we'll find information on the motorcyclists:

http://harrymarnell.net/civildef.htm

Mary-Jo Kline

From: Andrea

Question: Hi Mary-Jo,

I'm searching for certain abolition petitions that were brought to the House of Representatives in 1835. I looked through the Congressional Globe records but when the Congressman present a petition and even when the clerk reads it, it is not printed out in the Globe. And I can't seem to find them anywhere. Do you know if there are printed records of them?

Thanks,

Andrea

Answer: Andrea,

I emailed a friend of mine at the National Archives about your question. Here's his response:

Given the congressional disinclination to deal with such petitions
(suggested by the practice of tabling them), and the policy of not
delivering abolitionist literature through the mail, no one should be
surprised that abolitionist petitions were not published by Congress.

There are petitions in the records of the House and Senate.

I am not sure who might specialize in this subject, but the archivists in the Legislative Archives at NARA should be able to help.

When you contact one or all of these archivists, be sure to be as specific as you can about the petition or petitions in which you're interested -- date of submission, identity of the individual or group who submitted the petition, date of Congressional action. Give them every bit of information you have to save yourself and them time.

Let me know how things work out.

Best wishes,

Mary-Jo Kline