Helga Freeman McNair photographs

Identifier
irn566755
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2018.116.1
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

oversize folder

1

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Helga Freeman McNair (1915-1997) was born on 1 October 1915 in St. Paul, Minnesota. She went on to attend Vassar College and graduated with a degree in art history in 1938. After graduation, Helga and a friend volunteered to serve with the Red Cross in Europe. Helga's first deployment was to England where she experienced the VI-VII rocket attacks. Later Helga was appointed to work in the canteen that served Patton’s 3rd Army. While with the Red Cross Helga participated in and photographed relief work that followed the advance of Allied forces, including at Buchenwald following liberation. After the war Helga traveled between the United States and Europe for several years. Later Helga married H. Harvey McNair who was himself a veteran of WWII. The couple settled in Minnesota and raised a family.

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Estate of Helga Freeman McNair

Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2017 by Henry McNair, son of Helga Freeman McNair.

Scope and Content

Consists of two loose album pages of photographs depicting Germany in the immediate postwar period, including scenes of Buchenwald shortly after liberation, German prisoners of war, and civilians.

System of Arrangement

The Helga Freeman McNair photographs are arranged as a single series.

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.