The papers of Martha Selvik are divided into two series, Military and Personal.
Military (1942-1946) is comprised of material related to the study of the W.A.C. in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. Documents relating to the Historical Officers' Conference include an agenda, an address presented at the conference, a few notes taken by Selvik, and a 1946 history of the 501st Air Service Group, which was apparently distributed to the military historians at the conference as a model to follow. The actual study of the W.A.C. contains a wealth of interesting material. Among the topics covered in the report are, the establishment of the W.A.C., training issues, performance of W.A.C. troops, public relations, issues relating to African-American W.A.C. troops, and recommendations for the future that are based on the conclusions of the report. The draft version of the report includes hand written comments and revisions by Selvik and her co-writers. Also included in this series is a 1942 article about the W.A.C. from the Chicago Tribune Sunday supplement, which includes color photographs.
Personal (1941-1947) is comprised of newsletters, newspapers, and poetry, much of it written in the Norwegian language. While in Bergen, Selvik picked up both newspapers and newsletters published by the Norwegian Labor Party, which are part of the collection. The Norwegian poetry, some of which was apparently written by Torstein Selvik, is printed in a broadside format. The poetry in English was written by Helen G. Nakshian and is in the form of a Christmas postcard and a chapbook, which is inscribed by Nakshian to Selvik.
