Letters sent to her mother, Mrs. Charles (Ettie) Jerman, 1923 Feb 18-1925 Sep 29

The Wilma J. Miles papers were presented to the Naval War College in two separate lots: the first accession, mainly correspondence, writings, tourist literature, and photographs, was given by Mrs. Miles in 1974, and the second lot, correspondence and tourist literature relating to South America, in 1977. Both accessions were presented through the Naval War College Foundation.

The papers focus on Wilma Miles’s life and travels as a Navy wife for over a quarter of a century, with emphasis on the period from 1925 to 1955. They include materials relating to her life as a young bride in China from 1925 to 1927 during the era of the warlords and growing Chinese nationalism, and a return three-year stay there from 1936 to 1939, just prior to the outbreak of World War II. Another large segment of the papers focuses on her travels throughout South America when her husband served as Commandant of the Fifteenth Naval District, Balboa, Canal Zone, from 1954 to 1956.

The collection contains fifteen boxes, a file cabinet of photographs, and numerous photograph albums and books. It measures thirty-nine linear feet and is divided into six series: correspondence, writings, subject files, miscellany, photographs, and books.

Series I, personal correspondence, consists of letters to Wilma Miles from her fiancé, Milton Miles, and his letters to her mother, Mrs. Charles Jerman, containing news of China and his experiences as an officer in the Asiatic Fleet from 1922 to 1927 and again from 1936 to 1939. Most of the correspondence, however, is from Wilma to her mother during her two separate residences in China. Her letters are lengthy and describe her daily routine, her travels, and her impressions of Chinese life. They are important to the researcher for they provide insights into political events, historic figures, and a way of life that has since disappeared.

Series II, writings, contains Wilma Miles’s notes and vignettes of life in China during the 1920s and 1930s and an account of the family’s exciting journey over the Burma Road in 1939, including a children’s version. Her own autobiography, mainly treating with the 1950s, and a biography of her husband through 1939, which she wrote, can also be found here. In addition, a short story about China and a paper on Miles’s experiences in China as Head, U.S. Naval Group, China are the final components of this series.

Correspondence, itineraries, notes, and diaries of the Mileses’ travels to South America, Alaska, Europe, and the Near East from 1951 to 1960 are contained in Series III, subject files. Besides Miles’s experience and fascination with Chinese culture, he also had a strong interest in things Latin American. His assignments as Director of Pan American Affairs and Naval Missions, 1950–1954, and as Commandant of the Fifteenth Naval District, Balboa, Canal Zone, the following two years, required that he travel extensively throughout the Southern Hemisphere. Mrs. Miles traveled with him and on her own, and her impressions and experiences are reflected in the materials contained here.

Series IV, miscellany, contains guidebooks, maps, and foreign-language dictionaries for the Far East, Europe, and South America.

Photographs comprise Series V. The Mileses were amateur photographers and both took and developed their own photographs. The collection is extensive and the sixty-five volumes document their travels all over the world, from Alaska to India and China, from the 1920s to the 1950s. There are nine albums of Leica prints and negatives, four boxes of negative rolls, and one box of colored slides, as well as three boxes of prints and one file cabinet of prints.

The last series in the collection, Series VI, houses unpublished manuscripts and published books dealing with China, South America, and the U.S. Navy. Notes and drafts on U.S. Naval Group, China are here as well.