John Van Ellis papers
Extent and Medium
box
oversize boxes
oversize folder
1
3
1
Creator(s)
- John B. Van Ellis
Biographical History
John Bailey Van Ellis (born John Bailey Vanellis, 1917-2000) was born 16 February 1917 in Trenton, New Jersey to George (1877-1973) and Martha (1888-1946) Vanellis. He graduated from the Price School of Advertising and Journalism and the Trenton School of Industrial Arts. Prior to the war, he operated an advertising and photography business and then worked at the Health Education Service Unit in the New Jersey State Department of Health. He joined the United States Army in 1942, serving in the Signal Corps. While in the United States, he taught photography and wrote a photography textbook for the unit. When he went overseas, he designed and installed V-mail laboratories in London and Paris. He was discharged from the Army in 1946 at the rank of Captain, and resumed his career at the New Jersey State Department of Health. He was married to Helen Harris (1915-1990).
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Peter H. Van Ellis and the Van Ellis family
The collection was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Peter H. Van Ellis and the Van Ellis Family in 2017.
Scope and Content
The collection documents the military career of John Van Ellis in the Signal Corps of the United States Army, including his photographs and his work with establishing V-mail stations in London and Paris. Included are records related to the Signal Corps, V-mail program reports, correspondence with his wife Helen Van Ellis (née Harris), photographs, and a scrapbook. Also included are copies of arrest records of high ranking Nazi officials prepared in Camp Ashcan (Central Continental Prisoner of War Enclosure No. 32) prior to their transfer to Nuremberg for prosecution by Allied authorities. The arrest records are of Karl Dönitz, Hermann Göring, Wilhelm Keitel, Albert Kesselring, Alfred Jodl, and Franz Papen.
System of Arrangement
The collection is arranged as three series: Series 1: United States Army records, 1942-1947; Series 2: Correspondence, 1942-1949; Series 3: Photographs, 1942-1946
People
- Van Ellis, John B., 1917-2000.
- John B. Van Ellis
Corporate Bodies
- United States. Army. Signal Corps
Subjects
- V-mail.
- World War, 1939-1945--Photography.
- World War, 1939-1945--Veterans--United States.
- Paris (France)
- London (England)
Genre
- Document
- Correspondence.
- Photographs.
- Scrapbooks.
- Photograph albums.