To find general materials related to Dartmouth and its involvement in WWI, begin by conducting a search in the Library's Online Catalog. You may want to use the keywords “Dartmouth” and “World War, 1914-1918.” Don’t forget to use keywords to search the Finding Aid Database as well. Also, be sure to ask at the Rauner reference desk for vertical files (i.e., files dedicated to a particular subject or topic) and photo files related to Dartmouth men and WWI. These aren't searchable or even locatable online but are a great way to get started exploring the archives.
Another great starting point is to identify specific alumni who participated in the war and ask at the reference desk to see their alumni file, also unavailable online. Every Dartmouth alumnus or alumna has a file that is transferred to the archives when they die, and we have files going all the way back to the 1770s. Often, alumni files will contain obituaries, war service records, and other helpful information related to their subject. One way to identify those alumni is by looking through Eugene Francis Clark's War Record of Dartmouth College, 1914-1918, shelved in the reading room's reference collection. It will give you a helpful overview of the Dartmouth men who participated in the war. There is also a small collection entitled Dartmouth College in World War I, 1914-1922 (MS-521) that contains numerous statistics on Dartmouth students in the war. Other important general reference materials are the Dartmouth student newspaper, indexed and accessible via a card catalog in the reading room, and the Aegis yearbook, both of which contain important information about student life at Dartmouth.
In addition to archival resources, there are numerous manuscript and printed materials at Rauner that are relevant to Dartmouth College's involvement in WWI. Of particular interest is the participation of Dartmouth alumni in the various volunteer forces manned by Americans overseas before the USA became officially involved, as illustrated in:
Also, we have many personal diaries and related items that were created by alumni who served in the conflict ,such as:
In addition to these materials, we have a number of individual letters, or correspondence, written by Dartmouth students during the war. Most of these have records in the online library catalog. Some examples include:
These are only a few of the many types of documents available to you. Regardless of your particular topic of interest, though, it's always best to start by tapping your most valuable research resource: Rauner's desk staff. Any one of us at the reference desk is qualified and eager to help you get started on your research project and help you discover all of the interesting materials that we have related to WWI and Dartmouth.