Over the last two months, two chaplains in the US Army stationed at Ft. Leavenworth, KS have been in email correspondence with me regarding information about Chaplain Colonel Julius Babst. The researchers had visited Naper Settlement’s website and discovered our “Finding Aids to the Archival Collection.”
Collection 1, the Babst Collection was inventoried and uploaded in 2011. The Finding Aid describes the content and scope of the collection including date range, number of materials, and biographical information.
Several weeks passed between the first request and the second. Then I received an email.
Mr. Ogg:
Thank you, thank you, thank you! The documents and pictures you sent me are much more than my expectation, I really appreciate your time to send them to me!
The information contained in what you sent me provided me with the exact information I was looking for, particularly if Chaplain Babst was serving with the 23rd Infantry Regiment in France on 3 February 1918. My reason for seeking out this precise information is that I came into possession of a box which turned out to be the box from a “Homan’s Sick-Call Outfit” (1897 patent date) which had written on the bottom, “23rd Infantry, France, Feb 3rd 1918”
[The box] came from an estate that had another item identified as being from the 23rd Infantry Regiment, and the estate it came from was in California where Chaplain Babst died in 1943, the likelihood of this box accompanying Chaplain Babst on his deployment to France in WW1 is high (in my opinion). While the evidence is circumstantial, I believe it’s pretty good.
Again, thank you very much in your time and effort to send me this information, you’ve helped me tremendously!
v/r, Chaplain Densford, Daryl W. Densford, Chaplain (MAJ), USA, MP Regimental Chaplain & USAMPS Ethics Instructor/Writer
To review Finding Aids to the Archival Collection at Naper Settlement, visit our website at www.napersettlement.org or Archival Collection Index. The highlighted titles are complete fi nding aids. The other collections are being processed by our many volunteers and staff . With just a few keystrokes, researchers from around the world are connected to Naperville history and our collection.
