Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Ruth Butner Mock papers #4812, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from Charles Apfelbaum, Dealer in Rare Manuscripts and Archives, of Watchung, N.J., in April 1996 (Acc.96069).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Bethania (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Camp Crowder (Mo.)
• Love-letters--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Mock, Fred.
• Mock, Ruth Butner.
• United States--History--1933-1945.
• United States. Army--Military life.
• Vint Hill Farm Station (Va.)
• Warrenton (Va.)--Social life and customs.
• Weilbacher, Lee.
• Women--Employment--North Carolina--History--1933-1945.

Letters received by Ruth Butner, later Ruth Butner Mock, of Bethania, N.C., between 1943 and 1946, almost all of which are from Fred Mock, her boyfriend. Some letters discuss Butner's work, but most describe Mock's experiences in the army, first in basic training at Camp Browder, Mo., then at Vint Hill Farm Station in Warrenton, Va., where he was a student and then a teacher of electronics technology for military intelligence. Mock's letters report on his daily life at the base; the movies he saw; visits with friends; and trips into Warrenton, Va., and Washington, D.C. Mainly, however, he wrote about his love for Butner and his uncertainly about her love for him. Also included are several letters Butner received from Mock's chief romantic rival, Lee Weilbacher, also in the army. A March 1944 letter from Weilbacher has many lines crossed out in pencil. One entire letter and part of another from Mock have been ripped up, but remain in their envelopes. In early February 1945, Butner married Mock. She then received letters as Mrs. Ruth Mock.