Accompanying materials

In the first part of 1915, Robert R. McCormick and photographer Donald C. Thompson traveled to France and Russia to gather first-hand information on the war. Thompson and McCormick created approximately 200 still images (possibly more), and Thompson shot motion picture film. Thompson and McCormick appear then to have parted company: McCormick returned to the United States via Sweden and Norway, but Thompson remainded in Europe. McCormick wrote about his experiences in the book With the Russian Army (Macmillan, 1915), which included about two dozen photographs; and the motion picture film was presented as With the Russians at the front.

This collection consists primarily of the surviving still negatives and prints collected during McCormick and Thompson's travels. (Most of these images were never published.) The bulk of the images show activities of the Russian Army, in both Russia and Poland. The collection includes the envelopes that originally contained the images (with handwritten captions and other information), and associated information on separate slips of paper.