The papers of the Otto W. Feierabend are divided into three series, Papers, Still Images, and Video recordings.
Papers (1924-1988) consists primarily of records pertaining to his military service in both active and reserve status with the Army, with the bulk being records from his service with the Chicago Ordnance District during and just after World War II. They pertain to his wartime service and short-term activation afterwards to assist in Army peacetime transitioning. Most address his postwar activation. Wartime records include memoranda, correspondences, special orders, and charts concerning his work as a procurement officer and chief of an artillery section. They relate to staffing, and communications and evaluations concerning potential military contract with private manufacturing vendors. Workbooks have his notes about inspection and evaluation of these private contractors concerning their role in construction of Army equipment parts. There are also service records and travel reimbursement requests. Postwar service records are similar to those from his wartime service and include memoranda, correspondence, service records, and applications.
Also found, are CCC accident reports concerning vehicle accidents and camp injuries. Revised menus and food preparation instructions reflect CCC efforts to raise food quality at the camps.
There are scattered materials concerning the Citizens' Military Training Camps, the primary aim of which was “good citizenship and health, physical, mental, and moral.”
Still Images (1924-1959) consists of three photograph albums pertaining to Feierabend's military service. The CMTC album contains images from Camp Custer, Michigan, and Camp Sheridan, Illinois. Depicted are barracks and other camp buildings, personnel, military drills, and recreation. Some of the images are identified by captions, but they are written in pencil on black pages, making them hard to read. Loose CMTC photographs are similar to those in the album. Also included with the loose images are several picture postcards of men and military equipment used in training. The CCC scrapbook contains photographs from several camps in northern Wisconsin. Camp life is depicted through photos of barracks and other camp buildings, vehicles, and men at work. The scrapbook includes both black and white and colorized photographs that depict life at the camps, scenery, and working conditions. Also included are two oversized photographs; one featuring several scenes from Camp Copper Falls in Mellen, Wisconsin, and one showing a sign near Bass Lake, Wisconsin. The photo album concerning the Chicago Ordnance District is primarily of office shots of Feierabend and other workers in the department. There are also images of soldiers undergoing training and recreational activities. Loose photographs are similar to those images found in the album. Some photographs concern the Reserve Officers Association, of which Feierabend was a member, and include events he attended and portraits of fellow members. World War II photographs, presumably sent to Feierabend since he didn't serve overseas, are mainly images of Paris after liberation and show buildings, famous landmarks, destruction, civilians, and celebratory victory parades. Some images have descriptions written on the back, but there is no indication of who took them. There are also some Signal Corps photographs, cleared by sensors.
Moving Images (1938, 1940) were originally three different 8mm reels that were presumably taken by Feierabend during training while in the Officers Reserve Corps. Films 1 and 2 were taken during training at Fort Benning, Georgia. Film 1 includes footage of the camp, soldiers training and performing tasks, and various images of trucks and other equipment. Film 2 is primarily landscape scenes, but also includes footage of a building fire and several tanks performing maneuvers and demonstrating firepower. Film 3 was taken during training at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, and includes additional footage of soldiers training and firing artillery. Of particular interest is footage of soldiers partaking in chemical warfare training, including scenes of soldiers wearing gas masks and walking through chemical clouds. All original film has been transferred to digital format for access and preservation purposes.
