Our Sons at Camp Dodge
Des Moines, Iowa: Des Moines Register and Evening Tribune, [1917]. Paperback. Unpaginated, by 32 pages. Oblong format--9 by 12 inches, 229 by 308 mm. Staple-bound paper covers are clean but worn, especially along the frayed spine; two-inch tear to the rear cover. Central four-page section and the second-to-last leaf are detached. Final leaf is also torn, corresponding to the tear on the rear cover. Shorter closed tears to two other leaves. Item #733
Published by the newspaper to serve as a souvenir and provide information about Camp Dodge, which was built by the U.S. Army in 1917 for training 45,000 soldiers for duty in World War I. The booklet contains about 100 black-and-white photographs of activities, buildings and people of the camp. The cover illustration appears to be unsigned, but some university library catalogues attribute it to the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Jay "Ding" Darling. This copy's first page bears a handwritten inscription, "Greetings from Camp Dodge/Lorentz", and next to one of the photographs inside, captioned "Doing his own laundry," is another note in the same handwriting, "This is me/I wish you was here/to help me."
Price: $75.00