Robert Mason Papers
Collection
Identifier: Mss-0371
The Robert Mason Papers covers the period 1940-2014, with all but one item dating from 1940-1949. The photographs and other materials in the collection relate to Mason’s service in India during World War II, his work at a banana plantation in Panama, and a visit to the Mayan ruins at Quiriguá in Guatemala.
This collection is open to the public without restriction.
Robert Howell Mason was born on November 20, 1922 in Jonesville, SC the son of Bryant L. Mason, Sr. and Ruby Horne Mason. He graduated from Clemson College in 1949 with a B.S. degree in Vocational Agricultural Education and earned a Masters degree in Education from Appalachian State Teachers College.
During World War II he served in the China-Burma-India Theater at the 84th Air Depot Group, Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron in Bangalore, India.
Mason was a school principal and retired in 1984 from the South Carolina State Department of Education after serving for twenty-two years as the Area Supervisor of School Bus Transportation for the Pee Dee Area of South Carolina.
He married Frances Isabel Carey in 1949 and they had one daughter, Catherine. Mason died on September 18, 2008 in Central, SC.
.25 Cubic Feet (11 folders and 1 artifact)
English
The Robert Mason Papers are a resource for researching the U.S. Army Air Corps in India during World War II as well as the Panamanian banana trade in the mid-twentieth century. The collection contains mostly photographs but also includes an artifact, biographical information, correspondence, and a diploma. The material primarily documents Mason’s assignment to the 84th Air Depot Group in Bangalore, India during World War II and his work in the summer of 1949 at a banana plantation in Panama, including a visit to the Mayan ruins at Quiriguá in Guatemala.
Alphabetical by folder title. Artifacts are filed at the end of the collection.
Donated by C. Maria Mason in 2014. Accessions 14-011, 14-017
The collection was processed and a finding aid created by James Cross in 2021.
Part of the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Repository