Carol E. and Robert B. Dokes Papers

Carol Esther (Crews) Dokes: teacher and church worker; born in 1905; graduated from high school in Montclair, New Jersey; attended New England Conservatory of Music in Boston before transferring to Gordon College of Theology and Missions, also in Boston, from which she graduated (in 1931 ?); married Robert B. Dokes in 1931; taught music in Montclair; worked as a field worker for the Home Missions Council of North America (in Utica, New York, and elsewhere) and in the War Department's (Newark) Office of Dependency Benefits during World War II ( while her husband was overseas in the U.S. Army); taught school for many years (primarily as an elementary school teacher), including in Paterson and Newark, New Jersey; included the establishment of numerous vacation Bible schools and service as president of the Women' s Auxiliary to the North Jersey District Baptist Association among her varied religious activities; died in 2002.

Robert Boston Dokes: Baptist minister; born in 1904; graduated from high school in Noblesville, Indiana; graduated from Gordon College of Theology and Missions in Boston with a Th.B. degree (in 1931 ?); worked in adult education for the Works Progress Administration while living in Montclair, New Jersey, during the late 1930s; served as the (founding) pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Paterson, New Jersey, for over twenty-five years beginning in 1940; attended Upsala College (in East Orange, New Jersey); served from 1941 to 1946 as a chaplain in the U.S. Army (initially as a 1st Lieutenant and later as a Captain), including in the 92nd Engineer Battalion (until March 1942), the 243rd Quartermaster Battalion (until May 1943), the 369th Coast Artillery Regiment and the 503rd Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion; served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1946 to 1956; resided in Paterson from the late 1940s into the 1950s; graduated from Upsala College with an A.B. degree in 1948 and from Biblical Seminary in New York City with an M.R.E. degree in 1952; resided in Nutley, New Jersey, from the l 950s until at least the early 1970s; compiled undated pamphlets entitled "What Every Baptist Should Know" and "The English Bible"; died in 1986.

Papers of an African-American couple, but especially of Carol E. Dokes, among which are college papers, photographs (some pre-date 1922?) and letters received. Also a few papers of Carol Dokes' parents, Thomas E. Crews (1881-1962) and Irene Crews (1881-1973).

Some of the papers document the Rev. Dokes' experiences during World War II. Included in this material are black-and-white photographs that he took and acquired plus over 350 letters (some present only as photocopies), November 1942-September 1945, that he sent to his spouse. These letters, which primarily date from November 1942 to December 1943, were written while Dokes' was overseas, especially in Hawaii (November 1942-April 1944).