CSU’s military archive is growing, donors explain why it’s their top choice

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — A local university is on the way to becoming a top choice for archiving military history documents. But why?

The Columbus State University archives received its largest contribution to date over the summer. It gained 20 pallets of boxes, full of materials from the longest serving Secretary of the Army John “Jack” Marsh and former U.S. Army social worker James “Jim” Martin.

Scot Marsh and Martin both said the story began with CSU’s Military History Chair Dr. David Kieran.

“When I reached out to the Marsh family, I did it because I was trying to find Jack Marsh’s papers so I could go visit them wherever they were and do research,” Kieran said.

That was nearly a year ago. Kieran thought he would take some photos and notes for his research but he ended up with a stroke of, as he said, “serendipity.”

“The Marsh family was hoping to find a place where these records could be preserved,” Kieran remembered.

Scot Marsh, son of the late John Marsh, had multiple options when it came to finding a place to give his father’s documents. He chose CSU and it’s growing potential as a military history archive.

“They have an outstanding program for not only storing the files but cleaning them up, inventorying them, scanning them,” Scot Marsh said. “[They have] a whole archive that they can develop [into] one of the premiere centers for military history and research.”

Kieran is working with CSU’s archive to build a robust collection of military history documents, including records from local soldiers, former Fort Benning commanders and more.

“I’m sometimes awed by the fact that… the Marsh family, when a historian came calling, saw what we were doing and the capacity that we had and chose us,” Kieran said.

Martin, whose years of social work documents are also joining the collection, also saw CSU’s potential.

“I’m hopeful that as time goes on, there’s ways of finding support for David’s work and for what Columbus State is attempting to do,” Martin said, adding, “To really make this into a national archive.”

Scot Marsh agreed, emphasizing his trust in Kieran and the archival team at CSU.

“These files…are now in the hands of folks that can properly store them and provide them to the public and that has value,” Scot Marsh said. “That has national value.”