John Carroll Benton papers

Guide to the John Carroll Benton papers
1930-1949

Collection number: HMC-0645.
Creator: Benton, John Carroll.
Title: John Carroll Benton papers.
Dates: 1930-1949.
Volume of collection: 0.20 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Materials in this collection are in English.
Collection summary: Papers and photograph album of an U.S. Army Coast Artillery officer who served in the Sitka area.

Biographical note:
John Carroll Benton attended San Francisco Junior College (1937-1938), where he was an active member of the rifle and pistol club and the Army-Navy Society, graduating in 1938. He then attended the University of California-Berkeley, where he was a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. While attending college, Benton joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps, and became an artillery officer in the United States Army during World War II. In 1940, Benton trained at the Coast Artillery Training Center at Camp McQuaide, California, and in 1941 at the Coast Artillery Replacement Training Center at Camp Callan, California near San Diego. Benton was an officer in the Second Battalion of the 250th Coast Artillery (155 Gun), and later with Battery D of the 266th Coast Artillery. During the war, Benton was stationed at Fort Ray and Fort Rousseau (1941-1943), both near Sitka, and was involved in constructing gun emplacements in the vicinity.

Collection description:
The collection consists of the World War II papers and photograph album of John Carroll Benton. The collection contains: papers from Benton’s college career at San Francisco Junior College and the University of California-Berkeley; a cartoon of artillery officers training at Camp McQuaide, California; a xerographic copy of Benton’s original 64 page photograph album; and 311 black and white photographs from the album; and 26 copy negatives of selected images. Locations where the photographs were taken include: Crater Lake National Park, Oregon (1931); Lassen Peak Volcanic National Park, California (1933); Camp McQuaide, California (1940), Camp Callan, California (1941); Fort Ray, Fort Rousseau, and Sitka in Alaska (1941-1943); Kirby gun emplacement and dam; Kruzoff Island; St. Lazaria Island; Biorka Island; and Sound Island.

Arrangement: The materials in this collection are arranged by type.

Alternative formats: A Xerox copy of the original album is available. Copy negatives were made from selected prints in the collection.

Digitized copies: Four photographs from this collection have been digitized and are available on Alaska’s Digital Archives. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.

Rights note: Archives does not hold copyright to materials in this collection.

Preferred citation: John Carroll Benton papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Acquisition note: This collection was purchased from eBay in 2003.

Processing information: This collection was described, rearranged, and photograph album disassembled by Jeffrey Sinnott in 2003. The collection was converted to current standard by Veronica Denison in 2014.

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