Blackjack and Patton go to war.

• Position: What's New? - Online papers of John J. Pershing and George S. Patton

The diaries, notebooks, and address books of John J. Pershing, commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, and the diaries of George S. Patton, a tank commander in World War I and a U.S. Army general in World War II, have been placed online by the Library of Congress. These items join thousands of original materials from the World War I era that the Library has digitized and made accessible for use, ahead of the centennial of America's entry into the Great War in April.

"Blackjack" Pershing's digitized diaries, notebooks, and address books describe his command of the American Expeditionary Forces in France and his postwar service as Army Chief of Staff until 1925. Patton's diaries, 1910-45, illustrate his activities during the Mexican Punitive Expedition, World War I, and World War II. The online materials of both men are part of larger collections held by the Library of Congress that are available for research and can be viewed on-site in the Library's Manuscript Division Reading Room.

The entire collection of Pershing's papers spans the years 1882-1971, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1904-48. It consists...