Inventory of the Richard James Rendleman Papers, 1921-1969

Collection Number 5167

unc seal
Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
block Descriptive Summary
block Administrative Information
block Online Catalog Headings
block Biographical Note
block Collection Overview
plus Detailed Description of the Collection
block Items Separated
Contact Information:
Manuscripts Department
CB#3926, Wilson Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
Phone: 919/962-1345
Fax: 919/962-3594
Email: mss@email.unc.edu
URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
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Descriptive Summary

Repository
Southern Historical Collection
Creator
Rendleman, Richard James, 1920-2002.
Title
Richard James Rendleman Papers, 1921-1969
Call Number
5167
Language of Materials
Materials in English
Extent
Items: About 650
Linear Feet: 2.0 feet
Abstract
Richard James Rendleman of Salisbury, N.C., served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy during World War II. After the war, he returned to Salisbury, where he worked in the chemical field and became a well-known businessman.
The collection includes correspondence, official United States Navy documents, and photographs, 1921-1969, with the bulk dating 1943-1946, when Richard James Rendleman was serving in the Navy. Letters deal with the Port Chicago explosion and its aftermath, as well as Rendleman's daily life during his service in Guam; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Okinawa, Japan. Included are a few items relating to a tennis tournament in Guam at which Rendleman met several players, including Bobby Riggs. Official documents relate to Rendleman's naval service during and after World War II and include service records, travel expense vouchers, orders to report to various bases, separation records, and discharge records. Many of the photographs, 1941-1946, provide visual evidence for subjects described in the letters, including the Port Chicago Incident; the tennis tournament in Guam; and a typhoon that hit Okinawa while Rendleman was stationed at the naval base there. Individuals in the photographs include Rendleman, his parents, friends, and Bobby Riggs. Also included is a photograph album that contains images, 1942-1946, mostly of family members, many of them unidentified.

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Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Patricia Rendleman of Salisbury, N.C., in July 2004 (Acc. 99844) and October 2005 (Acc. 100237).
Processing Information
Processed by: Jesse Brown, October 2004
Encoded by: Jesse Brown, October 2004
Revisions: Finding aid updated in April 2006 by Nancy Kaiser.
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Additional Descriptive Resources

See also additional information on Richard James Rendleman's World War II activities, especially the Port Chicago incident, at http://www.rendleman.com/wwii/, a site maintain by the Rendleman family.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Richard James Rendleman Papers #5167, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
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Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
Port Chicago Mutiny, Port Chicago, Calif., 1944.
Rendleman family.
Rendleman, Richard James, 1920-2002.
United States. Navy--Military life.
United States. Navy--Officers--Correspondence.
World War, 1939-1945--Guam.
World War, 1939-1945--Hawaii.
World War, 1939-1945--Japan--Okinawa Island.
World War, 1939-1945--Photographs.
World War, 1939-1945--United States.
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Biographical Note

Richard James Rendleman was born in Salisbury, N.C., on 21 November 1920. After graduating from Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., he worked for two years as an assistant manager at a chemical company. During World War II, Rendleman enlisted in the United States Navy and was commissioned an ensign on 26 December 1942. Upon completing probationary training at Dartmouth College and Princeton, N.J., he was assigned to the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, Calif. He was on temporary duty in Vallejo, Calif., when, on 17 July 1944, two ammunition ships exploded in Port Chicago, Calif., killing 320 sailors. From 1945 to 1946, Rendleman was stationed in Guam; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Okinawa, Japan. After being separated from active duty, he returned to Salisbury, N.C., and resumed work in the chemical field, becoming a well-known businessman in the Salisbury, N.C., community until his death on 2 January 2002. Rendleman was the father of Richard James Rendleman, Jr. (b. 1949), music composer and professor of finance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Collection Overview

The collection includes correspondence, official United States Navy documents, and photographs, 1921-1969, with the bulk dating 1943-1946, when Richard James Rendleman was serving in the Navy. Letters deal with the Port Chicago explosion and its aftermath, as well as Rendleman's daily life during his service in Guam; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Okinawa, Japan. Included are a few items relating to a tennis tournament in Guam at which Rendleman met several players, including Bobby Riggs. Official documents relate to Rendleman's naval service during and after World War II and include service records, travel expense vouchers, orders to report to various bases, separation records, and discharge records. Many of the photographs, 1941-1946, provide visual evidence for subjects described in the letters, including the Port Chicago Incident; the tennis tournament in Guam; and a typhoon that hit Okinawa while Rendleman was stationed at the naval base there. Individuals in the photographs include Rendleman, his parents, friend Bob White, and tennis player Bobby Riggs. Also included is a photograph album that contains images, 1942-1946, mostly of family members, many of them unidentified.

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Arrangement of Collection

1. Correspondence
2. United States Navy Documents
3. Photographs
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Items Separated

Items separated include photographs (P-5167) and a photograph album (PA-5167)

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Detailed Description of the Collection

1. Correspondence, 19 February 1943-12 July 1969.

56 items.
Arrangement: by subject, then chronological.
Folder 1
Port Chicago letters
Includes letters sent by Richard James Rendleman to his parents Mr. and Mrs. John L. Rendleman, describing the Port Chicago Incident and its aftermath. The letters also deal with the death of Lieutenant Robert White, a close friend of Rendleman, in the explosion, and Rendleman's subsequent trip to Springfield, Mo., to escort White's remains home. Also included are a letter and a newspaper article from 1969 about the United States Navy's attempts to purchase the town of Port Chicago, Calif.
Folder 2
Overseas letters
Includes letters from Rendleman to his parents dealing with his overseas service during and following World War II, including stops in Guam; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Okinawa, Japan. Letters mostly deal with military life and recreation. In particular, a series of letters describes a tennis tournament held at the naval base in Guam and Rendleman's conversations with tennis players Bobby Riggs, Don Budge, and Frank Parker.
Folder 3
Other letters and clippings
Includes miscellaneous letters, postcards, and birthday cards to and from Rendleman, as well as newspaper clippings from the local Salisbury, N.C., newspaper, the Post, telling of his experiences in the United States Navy.

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2. United States Navy Documents, 4 November 1921-10 December 1956.

About 75 items.
Arrangement: by subject, then chronological.
Documents pertaining to Richard James Rendleman's service in the United States Navy during and after World War II. Most of the documents are from personnel files. They include service records, travel expense vouchers, orders to report to various bases, separation records, and discharge records. Note that original file folder order has, for the most part, been retained.
Folder 4
United States Navy Officer Service Record
Folder 5
Officer's Qualification Record Jackets
Folder 6
Unidentified Personnel Folder
Folder 7
Miscellaneous Documents

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3. Photographs, 1941-1946.

About 350 items.
Arrangement: by subject.
Photographs, 1941-1946, document Richard James Rendleman's service in the United States Navy during and after World War II. Many of the photographs provide visual evidence for some of the subjects described in the letters, including the Port Chicago Incident; the tennis tournament in Guam; and a typhoon that hit Okinawa, Japan, while Rendleman was stationed at the naval base there. Individuals in the photographs include Rendleman, his parents, friend Bob White, and tennis player Bobby Riggs. Also included is a photograph album that contains images, 1942-1946, mostly of family members, many of them unidentified.
Note that some of the loose photographs are duplicates of those in the photograph album.
Image Folder P-5167/1
Large photographs
Image Folder P-5167/2
Rendleman family photographs
Image Folder P-5167/3-5
Dartmouth and Princeton photographs
Image Folder P-5167/6
Port Chicago photographs
Image Folder P-5167/7
Train trip photographs
Image Folder P-5167/8
Guam tennis photographs
Image Folder P-5167/9-12
Guam photographs
Image Folder P-5167/13-14
Honolulu photographs
Image Folder P-5167/15
Okinawa photographs
Image Folder P-5167/16-21
Miscellaneous World War II photographs
Photograph Album PA-5167/1
Photograph album

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