Mrs. Woodall served as the music director of the Immanuel Baptist Church, located on the near north side of St. Louis City, in the 1940s. Her duties included directing the Young Men's choir. When World War II began, many men in the choir joined the armed services or were drafted. In response, Mrs. Woodall organized a group of women from the church to write to the choristers. Most of the correspondents previously had belonged to the choir, and at least two were women in the service.
Each of the "Service Mothers" had a list of men to whom they wrote regularly. The letters attempted to keep the men informed about the activities of the church, to bolster their morale, and to inform them about what was happening to other men in the service. In late 1943 or early 1944, Mrs. Woodall began to compile excerpt items from all the letters sent back to Immanuel Baptist and incorporated them along with church news into a bulletin that was also distributed to correspondents of the Service Mothers' mailing list. Immanuel Baptist Church paid for all postage costs and for printing the bulletin.
SCOPE AND CONTENT
The servicemen addressed all letters in this collection to Mrs. Woodall, most of them using the salutation "Mom". Mrs. Woodall was 39 years old in 1941. The largest single set of letters came from her son, Paul Arthur Woodall, usually referred to in the other men's letters as "Artie". The correspondents also frequently mention Mrs. Woodall's other son, Calvin. Calvin remained in St. Louis, employed in defense work, after the Army classified him 4-F, ineligible for the draft due to physical reasons. The GIs primarily wrote about their experiences in the service, their relationships with women and their desires to return home. Only one issue of the Immanuel Baptist church bulletin remains, located in folder 25. The ledger book provides a good overview of the letter-writing effort. It lists the names of each correspondent, the dates of the letters sent and the index is divided into groups by the name of individual service mothers. The collection includes two series: 1. Correspondence, 1942-1946, folders 1-22; 2. Lists and Ledger, 1944-1946, folders 23-24; and 3. Church Bulletin, 1945, folder 25.
SERIES DESCRIPTION
The Correspondence series, folders 1-22, contains the letters written to Viola Woodall from the servicemen. Arranged chronologically by the name of the correspondent.
The Lists and Ledger series, folders 23 and 24, contains a ledger including correspondent names and the dates of each letter sent to Viola Woodall as well as two other Service mothers: Mrs. L. M. Blayney and Mrs. Williams. This series also includes a list of Mrs. L. M. Blayney's correspondent addresses checked in December 1944. The series also contains lists of the servicemen's birthdates, their wives and their wives' addresses.
The Church Bulletin series, folder 25, contains the only extant copy of Armed Service News, the church bulletin of the Immanuel Baptist Church, August 1945. The series also includes the stencil master of the issue, handwritten notes for the bulletin, and a design sketch of the first issue.
FOLDER LIST
SERIES 1 - CORRESPONDENCE, 1942-1946
1. John W. Bibb, 1943-1944
2. Peyton Harris Bibb, 1943-1945
3. Frank Bland, 1944-1945
4. William Dale Boss, 1943-1945
5. Kenneth Brown, 1943-1944
6. Kenneth Brown, 1944
7. Kenneth Brown, 1944
8. Kenneth Brown, 1944-1945
9. James Duncan, 1944-1946
10. V. Edward Duncan, 1944-1945
11. Bill English, 1943-1946
12. Leon Evans, 1943-1945
13. Willis O'Briant, 1944-1945
14. Otho Moutray, 1943-1945
15. Others:
Mrs. V. L. Anderson, 1943
Clarence Baldwin, 1943-1945
Joe Belsford, 1943
John Davenport, 1943
Edward Diestelkamp, 1942-1943
Joe Glaeser, 1945
J. R. Hamilton, 1945
Robert T. Kracht, 1945
Oscar E. Muth, 1943
William Roy Schales, 1945
Eugene V. Schuler, 1945
Earl Scott, 1943
Edward J. Thurman, 1945
Morris C. Towler, 1942
Vernon D. Warden, 1945
Bob Watson, 1943
Helen Weinder, 1945
Marvin Whitener, 1943-1944
16. Raymond Smith, 1943-1944
17. Raymond Smith, 1944-1945
18. Raymond Smith, 1945
19. Art Woodall, 1944
20. Art Woodall, 1944-1945
21. Art Woodall, 1945
22. Art Woodall, 1945-1946
SERIES 2 - LISTS AND LEDGER, 1944-1945
23. Lists, 1944-1945
24. Ledger, 1944-1946
SERIES 3 - CHURCH BULLETIN, 1945
25. Armed Services Bulletin, Immanuel Baptist Church
Newsletter, 1945
INDEX
Armed Service News, f. 25
Baptists, f. 1-25
Immanuel Church, f. 1-25
Voluntarism, f. 1-25
Women In World War II, f. 1-25
Woodall, Viola, f. 1-25
World War II, f. 1-25
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI RESEARCH CENTER-ST. LOUIS
222 THOMAS JEFFERSON LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS
ONE UNIVERSITY BOULEVARD
ST. LOUIS, MO 63121
(314) 516-5143
whmc@umsl.edu