Manuscripts Collection
Orville R. Mickelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 30, 1923 to Olaf and Josephine Mickelson. He had three brothers: Harold and Robert also served in the military during World War II and his younger brother Allen was with his parents in Minneapolis during the war.
Orville Mickelson attended William Penn Elementary School and Patrick Henry High School, from which he graduated in June 1941. He and his family attended Luther Memorial Church in Minneapolis. He served in the 109th U.S. Naval Construction Battalion as a Motor Machinists Mate during World War II. After a course of study at Minneapolis Vocational, Mickelson became a pattern maker for the foundry industry.
He married Muriel Swanson on October 30, 1948 and they lived in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota where they had three sons. Orville Mickelson died in Brooklyn Center on July 19, 1998.
An extensive collection of letters primarily written to Mickelson from his family and friends, with some letters written by Mickelson to his parents. Most of the correspondence takes place during his military training at Camp Peary in Williamsburg, Virginia and at Camp Endicott in Rhode Island, in the California Bay Area, and while he served with the 109th U.S. Naval Construction Battalion stationed in the South Pacific in Hawaii and Guam during the war (1942-1945). Mickelson received letters almost daily reporting on the activities of his family and friends in Minnesota, as well as letters from his brother Robert who served in Europe during the war, and from friends in the military who were stationed in the United States, Europe, and the Pacific. The collection includes some correspondence from friends prior to Mickelson's service (1937-1942).
In his letters to his parents, Mickelson describes everyday life in the military, and his camp and the places in which he is stationed; he tells of his church experiences, and singing in a church choir and in a quartet in his camp; he discusses his relationship with his girlfriend; he keeps track of news from Minneapolis and Minnesota; and makes plans for his return after the war.
There are also three letters from Mickelson's son Paul to his parents in Minnesota while he was at naval bases in California (1972). A few photographs are scattered through the collection, primarily snapshots of Mickelson and his friends. Miscellaneous materials include Mickelson's report cards, hunting licenses, and some printed materials such as military newsletters and YMCA newsletters.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the
Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics,
persons or places should
Accession number: 15,747; 16,784
Processed by: Anne Levin, May 2005
Addition: February 2013
Catalog ID number: 3685632
Among his family, Orville's mother was a frequent letter writer with news of his family and friends, her garden and canning, and her job. There are some letters from his brother Robert who was also in the military and stationed in Europe and North Africa and from his younger brother Allen (Bubbles) who was at home in Minneapolis. Extended relatives also write occasionally.
Letters from Mickelson's neighborhood friends account for a large portion of the correspondence. Arlett Bredesen, Alda Knobel, Muriel Nelson, Ruby Skoog, Yvonne Swanson, and Beverly Yates write with information about themselves, their families, friends, jobs, school, activities, and local events such as the Minneapolis Aquatennial. Friends who also were in the military and write to Mickelson of their experiences include Norman Eck, Reuben Leines, Clifford Nelson, D. W. Mathison, Odin Sagberg, and Joseph Zelinsky. Norman Eck later married Yvonne Swanson and Yvonne's sister Muriel married Orville Mickelson.
Friends from outside Minneapolis include the Johnson sisters, Margaret, Anna, and Agnes of Alexandria and the nearby community of Nelson, Minnesota, Margie Sullivan who moved to Washington, D.C. with her husband Bill Sullivan who was in the military, and Ivah Kwartz whom Mickelson met while stationed in California. Margaret (Marge) Johnson was Orville Mickelson's girlfriend during the war and wrote extensively to him with news of her life, family, and friends in Alexandria and Nelson (1940-1945). It appears that Mickelson met the Johnsons while staying with Parnell Gordon and his family in Nelson, Minnesota during school vacations.
Includes undated cards and letters, birthday cards and a postcard (1933-1937), and several letters from his friend Beverly Yates who moved to Los Angeles, California (1939).
Primarily letters from Margaret and Anna Johnson in Alexandria/Nelson, Minnesota to Orville Mickelson ("Herman") in Minneapolis.
Letters from Margaret Johnson describing her activities. Reuben Leines writes from Yellowstone Park (June 29, 1941 and August 4, 1941).
Letters from Margaret Johnson describing her weekly activities, friends and family, and sometimes talking about Mickelson's visits to the Alexandria/Nelson area or her visits to Minneapolis and what they did together. In the fall, Mickelson was in Alexandria/Nelson for the hunting season. There is a photograph, possibly of Mickelson (September 27, 1942).
A letter from Clifford Nelson (July 19, 1942) describes his experiences in the Army at Fort Riley, Kansas. In October and December Mickelson received postcards with Selective Service information from the Hennepin County Draft Board.
Correspondents include friends and family in Minnesota, the Draft Board with classification and induction information, and his friend "Saggy" (Odin Sagberg) at the U.S. Naval Training Station in Farragut, Idaho and Mickelson's brother Robert at Camp Carson, Colorado both writing about their experiences in the military. Orville Mickelson started his Navy "Seabees" training at Camp Peary, Virginia in June 1943.
Correspondence for July includes almost daily letters from family and friends with news from home. Their letters occasionally mention experiences that Mickelson described in his own letters. Mickelson's friend Norman Eck writes from his Army camp in Texas.
Mickelson is at Camp Endicott, Rhode Island in August 1943. In September he moves to the Bay Area in California. He receives daily correspondence from friends and family in Minnesota. His friends in the military write from various locations. There is a V-Mail from his brother Robert in North Africa.
The correspondence for January-October is almost all letters from Mickelson while stationed in the Pacific to his parents in Minneapolis. He writes of his daily life in camp, going to church and joining the choir, singing in a quartet in camp, and comments on news he has received from home.
There is one letter to Mickelson from the Ernest and Laura Kemp family in Oakland, California.
Letters to Mickelson from friends and family are included for the months of November and December.
Includes Orville Mickelson's letters to his parents, and letters to him from his mother and brother Allen, friends in Minneapolis, Parnell Gordon and Marge Johnson in the Alexandria area, his friends Norm and "Matt" and his brother Robert in the military, Margie Sullivan of Washington D.C., and Ivah Kwartz from California and Oregon.
Orville's mother writes to him on V-E Day (May 8th) about the reaction in Minneapolis. His brother Robert writes from France in June.
In August, Mickelson's mother and friends write to him with news of V-J Day and the celebrations in Minnesota. Two letters from Mickelson to his cousin Marie Schendliar (May 29, 1945 and July 20, 1945) detail his experiences in Guam and the Marianas. A letter to a friend in the military describes V-J Day in Guam (Sept. 22, 1945).
In the last letter for 1945, Mickelson writes his parents on November 1, 1945 to say that he will be leaving Guam and expects to be in the United States by late November.
A few pieces of miscellaneous correspondence. There is a telegram from Orville Mickelson in Madison, Wisconsin to his mother (May 12, 1946).
Includes three letters from Orville Mickelson's son Paul while stationed at naval bases at Mare Island and Treasure Island, California to his parents in Minnesota (1972).
A letter and notes of Orville Mickelson (1995) give information on the Kemp family and Ivah Kwartz, friends he made while stationed in Oakland, California during the war.
Includes two photographs (probably of Mickelson), a word game and a drawing game, a list of the clothes and linens assigned to Mickelson as part of the 109th Naval Construction Battalion, a service award pamphlet, a library card, two high school report cards, and a few hunting licenses.
Includes issues of the Northside Y's