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Cage 99
Lenna E. Brown Baird
Papers, 1917-1943

Lenna Baird ca. 1918

The personal papers of Lenna E. Brown Baird were donated to the Washington State University Libraries in 1958 by Lenna A. Deutsch, a daughter of Mrs. Baird. The papers were arranged and described in January 1989 by Bruce C. Harding, son-in-law of the donor and archival consultant at the Libraries.

Lenna Baird (far right next to soldier) ca. 1918

BIOGRAPHY

Lenna E. Brown Baird was born in Shanghi, Illinois, Nov. 21, 1868, the child of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Brown. She died at Spokane, Washington, Dec. 22, 1945. She married Thomas Wiley Brown, born Biggsville, Illinois, June 24, 1896, at Alexis, Illinois. In 1910, she moved to Spokane, Washington, where, among other activities, she was active in several civic groups, including the Red Cross Canteen during and after World War I.

ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION

The papers of Lenna Baird include office files from the Spokane, Washington, Red Cross Canteen, correspondence from servicemen, and photographs taken in both the United States and in Europe. The papers are arranged with related materials drawn together in several sequences such as office files, personal correspondence, photographs, and so forth. Additional records of the Spokane Red Cross Canteen are deposited at the Eastern Washington State Historical Society in Spokane, placed there by Edith Smith, another Red Cross staff member.

CONTAINER LIST

BOX FOLDER    DESCRIPTION

1   1        Spokane Red Cross Canteen files, 1917
    2          January-June, 1918
    3          July-December, 1918
    4          January-December, 1919
    5          1920-1943
    6          Undated letters, memoranda, map, and exhibit items
    7        Soldier mail, 1917
    8          January-June, 1918
    9          July-December, 1918
    10         1919-1921
    11         undated
    12       Red Cross overseas employees' letters, 1918-1919
    13       The War Mothers League of America, August, 1917
    14       Mrs. T.W. (Lenna) Baird's "adopted" son, Martin J.
               Broswick, 1917-1918
    15       Photographs by Martin J. Broswick, Germany, 1919

BOX FOLDER    DESCRIPTION

2   1        Spokane, Washington, Red Cross Canteen, troop train
               data, 1918
    2        Spokane, Washington, Red Cross Canteen, troop train
               data, 1919
    3        Spokane, Washington, Red Cross Canteen, photographs,
               1918-1921
    4        Spokane, Washington, Red Cross Canteen, photographs of
               workers, 1918-1919
    5        Spokane, Washington, Red Cross Canteen, photographs of
               train service, 1918-1919
    6        Photographs sent of Lenna Baird by her "boys," 1918-1919
    7        Picture post cards, U.S.A., 1918-1919
    8        Picture post cards, Europe, 1918-1919
    9        Photographs of naval troopship  USS Sebrony, n.d.