THE UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO LIBRARIES
Purchased with funds donated in memory of
CARL JOSEPH
(1915-1944)
DIGITAL BOOKPLATE
CARL JOSEPH COLLECTION
Carl Joseph of Toledo, Ohio, was killed in action
on D-Day, June, 6, 1944, the first day of the Allied invasion of Normandy, France. He was a
paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Infantry Division
of the U.S. Army’s 505th Regiment and had
trained in North Africa, making previous combat
jumps into Sicily and Salerno during the Allied
invasion of Italy.
Carl was born on May 8, 1915, in Cedar Rapids,
Iowa, and raised in Toledo’s near north end
where his parents ran a grocery store. An avid
reader, he developed a strong interest in history,
political theory, social justice, and the American
labor movement. In 1928, he was elected president of his local union, the International Longshoremen’s Association. In 1942, he entered the
University of Toledo, but his political convictions
and World War II interrupted his studies and he
never returned. Carl’s wartime correspondence
with University President Philip Nash clearly indicated both the intensity of his beliefs and how
important knowledge and books were to him.
While serving in Italy, Carl took the time to purchase books that he sent back to Toledo as donations to the University’s library.
The Carl Joseph Reading Commons in the UT
Carlson Library was dedicated on June 6, 2013.
It was funded by bequest made in Carl’s memory
by his brother Albert. Books selected for the collection reflect topics of interest to Carl, including
labor history and the labor movement, social
conditions and social justice, war and peace,
American history and American presidents, and
political theory and political activism.