Army and Navy Diary Including French-English Words: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

World War I diary of Roy Underwood Plummer. The hardback book has a green cloth cover with black lettering that reads [ARMY AND NAVY / DIARY / FRENCH-ENGLISH WORDS / AUTOGRAPHS OF COMRADES]. The first page bears a handwritten inscription that reads [Roy Underwood Plummer / With Best Wishes / From / Your Sincere Friend / Albert L. Boddy / Xmas 1917.] At the front of the diary is an English-French Vocabulary section. This is followed by pages for Addresses of Home Friends and Autographs of Comrades. Plummer's first entry was made on December 15, 1917, and his final entry on June 5, 1919. The final entry reads [Honorably discharged. / Buy ticket for Washington, D.C., arriving / there early the / morning of the 6th.] The diary entries discuss several topics including Plummer’s insights on relations between US and French soldiers and citizens, segregation, the 1918 flu epidemic, weather conditions, food and places that he visited, African American companies and their bands that provided entertainment, German prisoners of war, the study of French language by African American soldiers, and the racial conflict between U.S. servicemen.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1917-1919
• Written by: Roy Underwood Plummer, American, 1896 - 1966
• Published by: Stanton and Van Vliet Co., American, ca. 1905 - ca. 1927
• Type: diaries
• Medium: cloth , ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W x D (closed): 5 9/16 × 3 11/16 × 11/16 in. (14.1 × 9.4 × 1.7 cm)
• Place used: France, Europe
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Band (Music)
• Topic: International affairs
• Topic: Language
• Topic: Medicine
• Topic: Men
• Topic: Race relations
• Topic: Segregation
• Object number: 2019.14
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from the family of Robert L. Plummer, Sr.
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.