Notes from the Archives

With Valentine’s Day thoughts in the air, it seemed fitting that the next Notes from the Archives would be love related. The WAAM Archives has a collection of love letters dated from 1943-1945, written by James Turnbull to his wife Peter (known to most as “Pete”, though he had a variety of pet names for her in the letters). In World War II Jim was a Naval war artist for Life magazine and Abbott Laboratories, spending time in Trinidad and then the Philippines. This particular letter was written to her on their wedding anniversary in 1945. The letters in the WAAM’s collection tell his great affection towards his wife but also tell the stories of his experiences with the other artists and in war. Fittingly, amongst the works in the WAAM’s Permanent Collection by James Turnbull is a sculpture of Cupid:  Click to view Turnbull’s Cupid

Emily Jones, Archivist
January 2018