Colonel George Peek Collection
Scope and Content Note
The Colonel George Peek Collection consists of materials related to his period of active duty. Included are materials related to his time as a second lieutenant in the coast artillery, his time serving in World War One and the occupation of Germany, his time served in artillery battalions after the war, and hundreds of photographs.
Dates
- Creation: 1873-1960
Creator
- Peek, George, Colonel (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
This manuscript collection consists of physical materials. This collection has not been digitized. This collection is open for research use only in the Reading Room. It is not available for request through Interlibrary Loan. Please contact the archive via email (archives@astate.edu) at least a week in advance of your arrival to ensure the availability of the material.
Biographical Note
Colonel George Peek was born in Hampton, Virginia in 1887. He began his military life at Virginia Military Institute, graduating in 1907. Following graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the coast artillery and served in artillery units in the Philippines, Hawaii, and Panama. Just before World War I he was commander of an army mine layer named General Scholfield, which sailed the Atlantic from the Canal Zone to Portland, Maine. During World War I he served as a major and later lieutenant colonel in the American Expeditionary Force in France. He was later transferred to Coblenz, Germany during the occupation where he served as Assistant Chief of Staff of the Army of Occupation and served as a special envoy to Luxembourg. He returned to the United States in 1923 to command several artillery battalions in different camps including Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Paris, Tennessee; Jacksonville, Florida; and Owensboro, Kentucky. He was a commander of the First Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and finally became the executive officer of the school. He served as an instructor for the National Guard, and in the early years of WWII he was a professor of military science and tactics at Arkansas State College from where he was appointed to serve as head of Facility Security Branch of the National Office of Civilian Defense (OCD) Anti-Sabotage Unit beginning in 1942. Colonel Peek retired due to physical disability in 1947 at the age of 60 and spent his terminal leave with his wife, Olive Peek, at his residence, Peek's Hill, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He died on November 22, 1960 at the age of 73 at the Naval Hospital in Millington, Tennessee.
Extent
1.67 Linear Feet (This collection consists of 16 folders and 500 envelopes in 4 document boxes.)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Colonel George Peek was a prominent U.S. Army officer who served for 30 years in various capacities. This collection contains documents related to his period of active duty.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in six series.
Series 1: Coast Artillery. The “Coast Artillery” series consists of documents Colonel Peek accumulated as a second lieutenant in the coast artillery.
Series 2: World War I and Occupation. The “World War I and Occupation” series contains documents accumulated by Colonel Peek during his service in World War One and the Occupation. It includes war reports, personal identification documents, certificates and awards he earned during his service in World War One, and programs and invitations to various social events.
Series 3: Artillery Battalions. The “Artillery Battalions” series contains materials Colonel Peek earned during his service in artillery battalions after WWI including certificates, appointment, and location letters.
Series 4: Newspaper Clips. The “Newspaper Clips” series contains newspaper clippings which cover the deployment of Colonel Peek to various offices and ahis activities on official duty in the various offices.
Series 5: Personal Documents. The “Personal Documents” series contains documents of the Peek's property transfers, certificates of Colonel Peek's membership in social clubs, and a card in memory of George Peek.
Series 6: Photographs and Postcards. The “Photographs” series contains photographs of Colonel Peek and other officers and their families taken primarily during his Peek’s service in WWI. Most of the photographs are in individual envelopes in Boxes 2 and 3. Each envelope is numbered with a spacer after every 50 envelops. Larger photographs are in large envelopes in Box 4. Each envelope is numbered and housed in a folder. Two photographs have their own enclosure. Numerous photographs are not present in this collection.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection was donated to the archives by the Arkansas State University Museum in 2013.
Accruals
Further additions to the collection are not expected.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Jennifer Hardin and Flora Smith.
Subject
- Field Artillery Center and School (Fort Sill, Okla.) (Organization)
- Field Artillery Replacement Training Center (Fort Sill, Okla.) (Organization)
- United States. Army (Organization)
Genre / Form
Geographic
Temporal
Topical
Uniform Title
- Title
- Colonel George Peek Collection
- Subtitle
- 1873-1960
- Author
- Meredith McFadden, 2010s; Matthew Mayton, 2023
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Archives & Special Collections at A-State Repository