First Person History is a project near and dear to my heart. Eventually, it will be a blog where I share primary sources, showing history from the perspective of someone who was there. First person accounts. To begin, though, there has been a lot of content centered around my family history.

My great grandfather, Arthur B. Holmes, was an architect. After World War II, he traveled over to Germany for the 1946 year, working with the army as a civilian to help rebuild the country and establish functional governments and such. (He worked decently high in the Personnel Office of OMGUS.) He wrote weekly letters home to my grandmother, and she kept them all. (She was like that.)

Arthur’s letters show such an interesting side to things. He was extremely well educated and well read, and it shows in his writing. His dry sense of humor is one of the big appeals to reading the letters, but he also captures a snapshot in time for us all, both in years, and in location.

Anyone who is interested in 20th Century history, World War II history, military history German history, or general social history will find these letters interesting. Please go check them out.