Collection Title: Henry Hebron Cunningham Collection
Series Number: MS21-01
Processed and Cataloged by: Sarah Owens and Devin Frisch
Date Listed: January 29, 2021, additions listed November 29, 2023
Date Span: 1917-1945
Size of Collection: 13.75 linear feet
Number of Boxes: 26
Type of Material: United States military uniforms, other textiles and accoutrements, mementos, books, correspondence, and maps. Cunningham Family history, photos, personal papers and ephemera.
Condition of Material: Good to poor.
Arrangement: Physical size.
Biographical / Historical Information: Henry Hebron Cunningham was born in Graves County, Kentucky on January 15, 1894. When he was drafted to military service in the United States Army to fight in World War I, his mother Sarah A. (nee Seay) Cunningham was a widow. Her husband and Henry's father, William Henry Cunningham, died in October 1893. At the time that he was drafted, Henry Cunningham was working as a farmer in the Swann area of Calloway County, KY. He was killed in action by German machine guns during the first day of the Battle of St. Mihiel (12-18 September 1918), and he was posthumously awarded the St. Mihiel Victory Medal for his service. Henry H. Cunningham is buried at Seay Cemetery in Lynnville, Graves County, Kentucky.
Scope and Content: This collection includes correspondence between Sarah A. Cunningham and her son, Henry Hebron Cunningham and her nephew, Freeman Seay between 1917 and 1919. Various World War I items in the collection include a 1917 Army Manual for enlisted men, a St. Mihiel Victory Medal, handkerchiefs, a knitted helmet (normally made by the Ladies Aid Society volunteers), a uniform belt, tunic, and pants as well as a large, memorial photo of Henry Cunningham in uniform; personal items like hand razors for shaving, bills, insurance papers, and Woodmen of the World membership cards and dues receipts are also available. There are papers and letters with information about the circumstances and location of the death of Henry Cunningham in France during the Battle of St. Mihiel. A small collection of circa-1930s maps of Tennessee, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Missouri are included. Also found in the collection is a green, wool World War II Army Air Corps uniform jacket and trench coat representing a service member who served in the Far East Air Forces with the 7th Air Force in the Pacific Theater and subsequently, received an honorable discharge.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
World War, 1914-1918
World War, 1914-1918--Campaigns--France
Saint-Mihiel, Battle of, Saint-Mihiel, France, 1918
World War, 1939-1945
History, Modern--20th century
Fraternal organizations--Finance
