Date: 1936. 

Biography/History:

B. Newman Sibley was probably born in Yazoo County, Mississippi. He was the son of farm worker Oscar Sibley and Florence Sibley. The Sibleys and their children, Perry (b. ca. 1898), Wallace (b. ca. 1901), B. Newman Sibley (b. ca. 1904), Madelle (b. ca. 1907), and Bonnie (b. ca. 1909), were residing in Yazoo County in 1910. B. Newman Sibley had enlisted in the United States Navy by 1936 and was stationed aboard the USS Portland, which was engaged in goodwill or training missions from its commissioning in 1933 until the outbreak of World War II.

Scope and Content:

This collection consists of a letter and a souvenir envelope, which B. Newman Sibley sent to his mother, Florence Sibley, in Yazoo City, Yazoo County, Mississippi. He wrote the letter after serving aboard the USS Portland during an August 1936 cruise to Honolulu, Hawaii. Sibley informs his mother of being transferred to a ship docked in Norfolk, Virginia, and mentions that he will be sailing there on the USS Nitro. He also asks his mother to advise his sisters of the transfer and to send them his new address. The souvenir envelope commemorating the1936 Hawaiian cruise of the Portland also bears a small photograph of the ship.

Series Identification:

Series 1: Letter. 1936. 1 folder.