Cornelius 瑞安 Collection of World War II Papers

Overview of the Collection

• Creator: Cornelius J. 瑞安
• Title: Cornelius 瑞安 Collection of World War II Papers
• Date: 1920-1974, with book 和 document supplements
• Abstract: Correspondence, 文档, 照片, 日记, 账户, 手稿, 录音带, 面试, journal articles, 剧本, 剪贴簿, 纪念品, books detailing 瑞安’s career as a journalist 和 author of the books The Longest Day, The Last Battle, A Bridge Too Far.
• Quantity: 110 cu ft

Digitized items from the 瑞安 Collection

Scope 和 Content of the Collection

The 瑞安 Collection primarily consists of material relating to World War II, the European Theater of Operations, in the form of his research papers 和 files for his three battle books: The Longest Day (Operation OVERLORD, Norm和y, France, June 6, 1944); A Bridge Too Far (Operation MARKET-GARDEN, Holl和, September 17-26, 1944); 和, The Last Battle (the capture of Berlin, Germany, April 15-May 10, 1945).  There are personal files for 3,072 individuals, both military 和 civilian participants of the battles, covering all nationalities.  The files contain 2,551 questionnaires, 955 面试, numerous letters, 日记, 账户, observations. In addition, there are 166 audio recordings of 面试.  Of particular note among the 面试 are those with Prince Bernhard of The Netherl和s, President Eisenhower, General Simpson, all from 1963.

In addition to the personal files there are numerous newspaper 和 magazine articles 和 book excerpts dealing with the battles.  瑞安 also collected military 文档 of all types: combat 面试 和 after action reports, 战争日记, message files 和 logs, strategic 和 tactical analyses, 地图, unit histories from all national forces involved.  Of particular note among the military 文档 are 战争日记 和 message logs of the major German comm和s from all three battles 和 账户, interrogations 和 unit histories from the Moscow 档案 concerning the storming of Berlin.  The bulk of the German 文档 had not been consulted by any researcher prior to 瑞安 和, in the case of the Russian 文档, no one else had ever been allowed access to the Moscow 档案.

There are in excess of 1,900 original 照片 in the files, collected from various national archives 和 private individuals, the vast majority of which are unpublished.

The remainder of the 瑞安 Collection deals with his journalistic productions.  The research files for his two articles “One Minute to Ditch” 和 “Five Desperate 小时 in Cabin 56” are complete, containing 面试, 照片, official 文档.  Also of special note among these files are a collection of 面试 with President Eisenhower’s West Point classmates (class of 1915) 和 correspondence 和 original material on the early American space program from Dr. Werhner von Braun.

Short Biography of Cornelius J. 瑞安

Organization of the Collection

These records are organized primarily by the books 瑞安 authored:

• The Longest Day Inventory List (PDF)
• The Last Battle Inventory List (PDF)
• Bridge Too Far Inventory List (PDF) 
• Miscellaneous Supplementary Material Container List (PDF)

Other materials 和 topics in the collection include:

• Material in Book Files of Special Note
• 书 和 Book Excerpts
• Journal 和 Periodical Articles
• Military Documents, Reports, Publications
• Pamphlets, Brochures, Titled Accounts, Speeches, etc.
• Audio Recordings
• Screenplays, Radio Broadcasts Scripts, Film
• Other Manuscript Materials
• 世界末日
• Unlabeled Manuscript
• Journalistic Materials
• Discoverer XVIII
• Apollo 11 和 Apollo 12
• Communications Satellites
• Photographs 和 Artwork
• Miscellaneous Notebooks
• Miscellaneous Audio Recordings
• Travel Guides 和 书
• Photographs 和 Memorabilia
• Reference 图书馆

Administrative Information

• Restrictions: This collection is open to use under the rules 和 regulations of the Ohio University 库.
• Preferred Citation: Cornelius 瑞安 Collection of World War II Papers, Mahn Center for 档案 和 Special 集合, Ohio University 库
• Accession Number: MSS#20
• Provenance: The Ohio University 库 received the collection through Kathryn Morgan 瑞安 in 1981.
• Property Rights: The Ohio University 库 owns the property rights to this collection.
• Copyrights: Geoffrey 瑞安 和 Victoria 瑞安 Bida retain the literary rights they may possess in the materials.  Consideration of such rights 和 any other rights owned by others is the responsibility of the researcher 和 publisher.
• Photo Duplication: Ohio University 库 will entertain requests to photocopy reasonable amounts of material from the collection for the convenience of individual researchers.
• Processing: The Collection was received in 1981 和 processed by Richard Coleman over the next two years.  A Supplement was received in 1984 和 processed by Ann Calvin.  Materials relating to the Collection have been received since that time 和 were processed by Doug McCabe.

Related Materials

Other books 和 articles by 瑞安 include:

• The Star-Spangled Mikado (with Frank Kelley, 1947)
• MacArthur: Man of Action (with Frank Kelley, 1950)
• Across the Space Frontier (博士. Werhner von Braun, 1952)
• Conquest of the Moon (博士. Wernher von Braun, 1953)
• One Minute to Ditch (1957)
• “Beautiful Murder,” 生活, 2 June 1947. p.7
• “The Women Behind MacArthur,” 科利尔的, 23 September 1950
• “Irel和 Today: From Great Famine to Great Future,” 科利尔的, 17 March 1951
• “Operation Eggnog: Preview of the War We Do Not Want,” 科利尔的, 27 October 1951
• “Man Will Conquer Space Soon,” 科利尔的, 22 March 1952
• “Man on the Moon: The Journey,” 科利尔的, 18 October 1952
• “Man on the Moon: The Exploration,” 科利尔的, 25 October 1952
• “Man’s Survival in Space: Emergency!” 科利尔的, 14 March 1953
• “The Baby Space Station,” 科利尔的 1953年6月27日
• “Midget Subs: The Navy’s New Sneak Weapon,” 科利尔的, 21 August 1953
• “G-Gas, A New Weapon of Chilling Terror – We Have It – So Do the Russians,” 科利尔的, 27 November 1953
• “These Fighters Take Off Straight Up,” 科利尔的 1954年4月2日
• “Can We Get to Mars?” 科利尔的, 30 April 1954
• “Stereatronics: A New Science That Will Change Your Way of 生活,” 科利尔的, 3 September 1954
• “I Rode the World’s Fastest Sub,” 科利尔的, 1 April 1955
• “The Navy Comes Up with a Real ‘Flying Saucer’,” 科利尔的, 29 April 1955
• “From Plebe to President,” 科利尔的, 10 June 1955
• “NATO’s Navy,” 科利尔的, 20 January 1956
• “What Made Vuky Race?” 科利尔的1956年5月25日
• “The Major of St. Lo,” 科利尔的, 6 June 1956
• “The Andrea Doria’s Untold Story: Five Desperate 小时 in Cabin 56,” 科利尔的, 28 September 1956
• “One Minute to Ditch,” 科利尔的, 21 December 1956
• “Queen of the Seas,” Saturday Evening Post, 14 September 1957, p.48-121.  Full text available to Ohio U only.
• “Air Age Bargin Mart,” Reader’s Digest, 1957
• “More of The Longest Day,” Reader’s Digest1965年6月6日

Bound volumes of 科利尔的 和 The Reader's Digest are available from the 图书馆 Annex.