Richard T Eger
04-16-2003, 03:33 PM
I wrote to Larry deZeng the following inquiry:
"From: Richard Eger
To: Larry deZeng
Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2003 11:04 PM
Subject: Harry Crerar Collection Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston
Dear Larry,
The following was recently posted on LWAG by new member Chris Madsen, a Staff College Professor who has interests in Fallschirmjäger, Maritime Air, Military/Naval Law:
"The Harry Crerar Collection at the Royal Military College of Canada has the second largest collection of German language military and technical manuals 1939-1945 in North America, after the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park. It includes a large selection of Luftwaffe material, particularly in the L.Dv numbered series and various Merkblatt. At present, the Crerar collection is still uncatalogued, but is arranged in numerical order. It resides in a locked room in the basement of the Massey Library; access is granted by the librarian and requires a physical visit to the Royal Military College of Canada. Photocopies are 10 cents Canadian per page or free for Canadian Forces/Department of National Defence employees.
Harry General was the commanding general of the First Canadian Army during the Second World War. These manuals, mostly from North-West Germany and Holland, were "liberated" by the Canadians and brought back to Canada before being donated to the Royal Military College of Canada."
As I have neither L.Dv nor Merknlatt defined under the Document Types forum, I thought I'd ask if you could provide explanations of these 2 document types which I could post on LWAG. Interestingly, there is or was a Crerar library in Chicago, where I grew up. Any idea if the two are related?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Warmest regards,
Richard"
Larry kindly replied with the following explanations:
"From: Larry deZeng
To: Richard T. Eger
Sent: Monday, April 07, 2003 8:17 AM
Subject: Re: Harry Crerar Collection Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston
...
Dear Richard -
As stated, these are Luftwaffe regulations and manuals. Virtually all of them are duplicated in U.S. collections found at NARA and, I would imagine, NASM-Gerber. The Canadian hoard is seldom used for exactly the reason stated: it's not catalogued and therefore difficult to access. What would be interesting to learn, however, is the content of the other Luftwaffe material in the Crerar Collection. There might be some previously unknown documents in the collection that would be of considerable interest.
An L.Dv is a Luftdienstvorschrift, meaning air (force) service regulation or manual. A Merkblatt is a supplement to a regulation or manual, or an instructional pamphlet or booklet. There were hundreds of both issued on all imaginable subjects, both technical and administrative, during the existence of the Luftwaffe. The overwhelming majority of them were printed in the old German script which makes reading them today rather difficult, especially for non-Germans, even those who otherwise read German quite well.
I very strongly doubt if the Crerar Library in Chicago has any connection to the Crerar Collection at the Royal Military College of Canada.
Best,
Larry"
Thanks, again, Larry, for sharing of your wealth of reference knowledge.
Regards,
Richard
"From: Richard Eger
To: Larry deZeng
Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2003 11:04 PM
Subject: Harry Crerar Collection Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston
Dear Larry,
The following was recently posted on LWAG by new member Chris Madsen, a Staff College Professor who has interests in Fallschirmjäger, Maritime Air, Military/Naval Law:
"The Harry Crerar Collection at the Royal Military College of Canada has the second largest collection of German language military and technical manuals 1939-1945 in North America, after the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park. It includes a large selection of Luftwaffe material, particularly in the L.Dv numbered series and various Merkblatt. At present, the Crerar collection is still uncatalogued, but is arranged in numerical order. It resides in a locked room in the basement of the Massey Library; access is granted by the librarian and requires a physical visit to the Royal Military College of Canada. Photocopies are 10 cents Canadian per page or free for Canadian Forces/Department of National Defence employees.
Harry General was the commanding general of the First Canadian Army during the Second World War. These manuals, mostly from North-West Germany and Holland, were "liberated" by the Canadians and brought back to Canada before being donated to the Royal Military College of Canada."
As I have neither L.Dv nor Merknlatt defined under the Document Types forum, I thought I'd ask if you could provide explanations of these 2 document types which I could post on LWAG. Interestingly, there is or was a Crerar library in Chicago, where I grew up. Any idea if the two are related?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Warmest regards,
Richard"
Larry kindly replied with the following explanations:
"From: Larry deZeng
To: Richard T. Eger
Sent: Monday, April 07, 2003 8:17 AM
Subject: Re: Harry Crerar Collection Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston
...
Dear Richard -
As stated, these are Luftwaffe regulations and manuals. Virtually all of them are duplicated in U.S. collections found at NARA and, I would imagine, NASM-Gerber. The Canadian hoard is seldom used for exactly the reason stated: it's not catalogued and therefore difficult to access. What would be interesting to learn, however, is the content of the other Luftwaffe material in the Crerar Collection. There might be some previously unknown documents in the collection that would be of considerable interest.
An L.Dv is a Luftdienstvorschrift, meaning air (force) service regulation or manual. A Merkblatt is a supplement to a regulation or manual, or an instructional pamphlet or booklet. There were hundreds of both issued on all imaginable subjects, both technical and administrative, during the existence of the Luftwaffe. The overwhelming majority of them were printed in the old German script which makes reading them today rather difficult, especially for non-Germans, even those who otherwise read German quite well.
I very strongly doubt if the Crerar Library in Chicago has any connection to the Crerar Collection at the Royal Military College of Canada.
Best,
Larry"
Thanks, again, Larry, for sharing of your wealth of reference knowledge.
Regards,
Richard