Queens College Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Collection
Scope and Contents
The Queens College Air Force ROTC Collection documents the program's time at Queens College, including its creation and its discontinuation less than a decade later. The materials in the collection include correspondence related to cadets and events, official memos between the college and the program, photographs of cadets during summer training camp, plaques honoring cadets who graduated from the program, and extensive documentation on the death of Lieutenant Alan Rea, a graduate of the program, and later efforts to name a campus building in his honor.
Dates
- 1945-1960
Language
English
Access
Collection is open for research. Staff may restrict access at its discretion on the basis of physical condition
Copyright
The Queens College Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps Collection is physically owned by the Queens College Libraries. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assignees. The collection is subject to all copyright laws. Queens College assumes no responsibility for the infringement of copyrights held by the original authors, creators, or producers of materials.
Historical Note
The United States Army, Navy, and Air Force all have their own Reserve Officers' Training Corps on many college campuses across the country. These programs, which are intended to identify and develop future officers, provide both training and scholarships to students throughout their undergraduate years in return for active military service following graduation.
The Air Force's ROTC program officially began in 1916 with the passage of the National Defense Act. It initially targeted engineering schools as sites for its programs, but ultimately expanded to include a wide variety of colleges. In the years following World War II, there were almost 200 AFROTC programs on campuses across the country, including one at Queens College.
Queens College, which belongs to the City University of New York public college system, is located in Flushing, Queens. It has a long history of providing a quality and affordable education to students who come from a wide variety of backgrounds. The school has often been a hotbed of political activism, including demonstrations regarding the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement.
The Air Force ROTC program at Queens College graduated dozens of cadets during its active period, which lasted for less than a decade in the 1950s.
Extent
2 Linear Feet (5 boxes, 1 plaque)
Abstract
This collection covers the division of the Air Force ROTC program which was at Queens College during the 1950s. It includes a variety of materials related to the program, including correspondence, publications, photographs, and extensive documentation of the death of Lieutenant Alan Rea, a graduate of the program, and subsequent renaming of the ROTC building in his honor.
Arrangement
Series I: Correspondence
Series II: Publications
Series III: Official Documents
Series IV: Photographs/Ephemera
Series V: Lieutenant Alan Rea
Source
Materials pertaining to Lieutenant Alan Rea donated by Ernest Conroy. Other materials gathered from a variety of sources.
Processing
Processed by Elena Locascio, Spring 2014, Approved by Alexandra Dolan-Mescal, Summer 2014. Machine readable finding aid created by Dan Brenner, Fall 2014.
Source
- Rea, Alan (Person)
- Title
- Queens College Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Elena Locascio, Spring 2014, Approved by Alexandra Dolan-Mescal, Summer 2014. Machine readable finding aid created by Dan Brenner, Fall 2014.
- Date
- 2014
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the Queens College (New York, N.Y.) Special Collections and Archives Repository
Queens College Library, CUNY
Benjamin Rosenthal Library RO317
65-30 Kissena Boulevard
Flushing 11367 USA us
QC.Archives@qc.cuny.edu
