Return to Naval History and Heritage Command home page. Return to Online Library listing

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Album S-581, page 1: Four views of USS Powhatan, circa 1918-1919

Online Library of Selected Images -- Photo Albums

Robert H. Helm's USS Powhatan (ID # 3013) Photo Collection. (Naval History and Heritage Command Photographic Lot # S-586)
-- General Description

This collection mainly consists of photographic prints concerning the U.S. Navy transport Powhatan (ID # 3013). With few exceptions, they date from 1919, when Robert H. Helm served as a enlisted member of her crew. There are also photos of scenes in U.S. East Coast ports, France, Belgium and The Netherlands, plus a few documents related to Mr. Helm's World War I Selective service status. The collection was donated in April 2008 by Robert Helm and his wife, Virginia Helm. Its original owner, Robert H. Helm (1897-1976), was Robert Helm's uncle.

The prints and documents were received in loose form, organized by the donors (and perhaps by Robert H. Helm) into general topics. The Naval History and Heritage Command's Photographic Section retained nearly all of this organization when it placed the collection into a 41-page album-like format. As of this writing, twenty-seven of the collection's photographs and documents have been further cataloged under Photo #s NH 106331 through NH 106357, and are featured in other "Online Library" subject presentations. All of these images are also seen here, with links provided to their "NH" series Picture Data sheets.

Most of the approximately 160 original photos contained in this collection are printed in post card format (about 3.4" x 5.4"), though several are of smaller sizes. The great majority of the post card format images are printed on photographic card stock ("AZO" type). Others are commercially published (letterpress) post cards. Many of the prints have descriptions on their reverse sides, presumably hand-written at the time by Mr. Helm, who mailed them to his parents and other people. This information has been used in the preparation of these pages and in the captions of individual "NH" series photos. Where the original descriptions are of significant interest, an image of the page's reverse is furnished in this presentation.

Other materials from Robert H. Helm's collection are contained in the Photographic Section's "U" file, or were transferred to the Navy Curator Branch and the Navy Department Library for inclusion in their holdings.

For additional relevant information, see:

  • USS Powhatan (ID # 3013), 1917-1919.


    To browse through this album page-by-page:

  • Start with Pages 1-9 and follow page links near the bottom of each presentation page.

    To go directly to specific pages, click the appropriate entry on the list below:


    Pages 1-9


    Pages 10-19


    Pages 20-29


    Pages 30-41


    For a listing of specific subjects seen in this album, keyed to the pages where they appear, see:

  • Robert H. Helm's USS Powhatan (ID # 3013-6) Photo Collection -- Subject Listings.

    Click on the linked page numbers to see small pictures ("thumbnails") of those pages.

    Click on the thumbnails to access larger images of the pages.


    NOTES:

  • To the best of our knowledge, the pictures referenced here are all in the Public Domain, and can therefore be freely downloaded and used for any purpose.

  • If reproduced, images featured on these pages should be credited to the "U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command".


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval History and Heritage Command home page.

    Page made 11 February 2009
    Minor text correction 25 February 2009