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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Navy
  • Unit of Service: Company 921, Camp Robert Small
  • Location of Service: Chicago, Illinois
  • Highest Rank: Musician First Class

View full service history

"If it hadn’t of been for the GI Bill, I couldn’t have made it." (Audio interview, 32:21)

Though he was a musician prior to his entrance into the Navy during World War II—he attended Detroit’s Cass Tech High School, well known for its arts curriculum—Charles E. Burrell’s career in music is inextricably connected to his time in the service. As a band member at Camp Robert Smalls, a segregated training facility within Naval Station Great Lakes, his proximity to Chicago offered him the chance to meet and play with some of the era’s most legendary jazz musicians. After the war, he attended Wayne State University using the GI Bill, and later, became the first African American to play with the San Francisco symphony.

Charles E. Burrell Collection
Interview / Recording

About this Item

Title

  • Charles E. Burrell Collection

Names

  • Priest, Nelson
  • Duman, Audrey
  • AARP, Colorado
  • Burrell, Charles E.

State of Birth

  • OH

Home State

  • CO

Headings

  • -  Burrell, Charles E.
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Navy.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Race

  • Black or African American

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: Navy
    • Unit of Service: Company 921, Camp Robert Small
    • Location of Service: Chicago, Illinois
    • Highest Rank: Musician First Class
    • Dates of Service: 1942-1945
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Photograph: Mixed (Multiple types of photographs) [5 items] -- Photograph (collected 1945/2004)
  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 05/01/2004)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/21086

Cite as

  • Charles E. Burrell Collection (AFC/2001/001/21086), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • audio

Additional Metadata Formats

Wars & Conflicts

Service Branch

Location of Service

Service Unit

Gender

Race

Highest Rank

Service Entrance

Discharge Status

Interviewee

Interviewer

Organization/Affiliation

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Priest, Nelson, Audrey Duman, Colorado Aarp, and Charles E Burrell. Charles E. Burrell Collection. 1942. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.21086/.

APA citation style:

Priest, N., Duman, A., Aarp, C. & Burrell, C. E. (1942) Charles E. Burrell Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.21086/.

MLA citation style:

Priest, Nelson, et al. Charles E. Burrell Collection. 1942. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.21086/>.