Resources for Research on the U.S. Navy
at University of Louisville's Archives and Records Center
V-12 and Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps, University of Louisville
In February 1943, the University of Louisville won a United States Navy officer training unit. After the end of World War II, the wartime V-12 Navy Training Unit at the University of Louisville was converted into a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps Unit (NROTC). The first students entered the program in the fall of 1946, making U of L one of the fifty-two universities in the United States to develop future officers of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps as a part of Public Law 729. The Naval Science Building (renamed Russell E. Dougherty Hall in 1981) was dedicated in June 1947. The first officers through the program were commissioned in June 1950. From 1950 through 1979, over five hundred officers were commissioned through the NROTC at U of L.
The links below will take you to different categories of papers and other materials held in UARC that contain information on the U.S. Navy. This list may also be viewed in alphabetical order.
- V-12 and NROTC Records
- V-12 and NROTC Records located within files of other University of Louisville Offices
- Manuscript Collections
- Oral Histories
- Other
V-12 and NROTC Records
Annual Reports: (1950-1957, 1961, 1967-1970) - .25 linear feet
Commissioning Ceremony Programs: (1955-1978, incomplete) - .25 linear feet
Financial files: records of the galley and the barbershop, 1943-1944 - .25 linear feet
Freshman handbooks: 1961-1971 - .25 linear feet
Publications: The Navy Annual (1945); The Buchaneer (1951, 1952); The Masthead (1962-1964, 1966, 1970-1971, 1973-1976); The Louisville Clipper (1976) - .75 linear feet
Photograph collection: 1950-1979 - 1 linear foot
V-12 Banner: 1943
V-12 Financial files: comptroller files on the program, 1943-1944 - 1 linear foot
Navy V-12 Program Records:
View Finding Aid
Includes correspondence, publications, printed material, photographs, and memorabilia, along with material relating to the 50th anniversary of the V-12 program in 1993, 1945-1993 - 3.25 linear feet
V-12 and NROTC Records located within files of other University of Louisville Offices
College of Arts and Sciences, Office of the Dean: V-12 Photographs:
Twenty-nine campus photographs that made up a "UofL in War," display, featuring Army and Navy specialized training units at the Schools of Medicine and Dentistry and the university's civilian war activities - 1.25 linear feet
Division of Institutional Services: Contracts, leases and deeds, 1923-1958
Includes contracts with the U.S. Navy regarding Officer Candidate Training, 1949-1950 - 2 folders
Office of Development and Alumni
Tape of Navy V-12 Reunion and memorial service, October 23, 1993 - 60 minutes
Vice President for Academic Affairs: General office files, 1943-1980
includes proposals dealing with the NROTC, 1943-1945 - .10 linear foot
Vice President for Financial Affairs: General office files, 1964-1968
Includes accounting system and related reports for the NROTC, 1967-1969 - .25 linear feet
Manuscript Collections
Charles Embry Papers:
Materials, including a ship's book, photographs, and a ship newsletter about Embry's naval service in World War II aboard the battleship Missouri at the time of the Japanese surrender, 1945 - .25 linear feet.
Settles, James W., 1913- ,
The beanery: a village named Ormsby, James W. Settle's memoirs, concerns the author's early childhood as a charge of Ormsby Village Children's home, his schooling at the Kentucky Military Institute, his naval service during World War II, and his life since that time. The memoir also documents his participation in marching bands and his wartime service as a flight inspector for Consolidated Aircraft Corporation. Settle became a dentist after World War II and settled in California.
U.S.S. Louisville Reunion Association records, 1939-1997 (bulk 1939-1943)
.25 linear feet
View Finding Aid
The U.S.S. Louisville (CA-28) was the third of four ships to bear this name. It was launched from Puget Sound Navy Yard in Washington state in 1930 and commissioned in January 1931. She participated in several World War II naval campaigns, most notably the Battle of Leyte Gulf. After suffering serious damage from three separate kamikaze attacks in 1945 the ship was decommissioned in 1946. This collection includes a few copies of the shipboard newsletter and an Allied military field newspaper along with correspondence, newsletters, programs, and printed materials from the cruiser's reunion association.
Mike Ward Papers, 1994-1995
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Ward represented Kentucky's Third District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1997. These files concern efforts to keep the Naval Ordnance Station in Louisville open, 1994-1995 - 7.5 linear feet.
Oral Histories
Maurice J. Brown, Jr.
Sailor discusses his recollections of World War II, concentrating on the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 - 60 minutes. Transcribed. Tape Number 750.
J. Darrell Lyvers
Sailor discusses experiences on ship of the coast of Vietnam - 60 minutes. Summary available. Tape Number 1981-168.
Jim Newton
Career officer in U.S. Navy discusses his experiences and feelings about Vietnam - 60 minutes. Summary availble. Tape Number 1984-43.
J. Stappler
Discusses his experiences aboard submarines in World War II - 120 minutes. Tapes Number 87 & 88.
John Van Dyke
Former lance corporal in U.S. Marine Corps, discusses experiences and feelings about Vietnam. - 60 minutes. Tape Number 1984-55.
Other
General Reference Files, University Archives and Records Center
- UofL Reference: NROTC - .50 linear feet
- Local Reference: Business and Industry, Naval Ordnance Station - 1 folder
University of Louisville yearbooks and newspaper contain articles on the V-12 and NROTC, 1943-1979
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