Propaganda
Historical Context The Great Depression and the World Wars were the major historical influences on Americans between 1933 and 1945. The 1929 stock market crash had left 13 million people unemployed and 2 million homeless. A documentary of the period would have revealed Hoovervilles, dust storms, labor union strikes, violent farmers protesting foreclosures and unarmed WWI Vets marching on the White House for their promised bonuses, only to be met by U.S. Army tanks. Adolf Hitler Geburtstagfeier. (Birthday Celebration) Los Angeles, April 20, 1935 In 1933 Adolf Hitler became the head of Germany's Third Reich and Franklin Delano Roosevelt entered the Oval Office. In the United States, the New Deal brought hope for recovery.
Propaganda – A Weapon of War is a small snapshot of Second World War propaganda that can be found in the National Library of Scotland’s collections.
Between 1939 and 1945, both Allied and Axis Governments greatly influenced wartime behaviour and attitudes through propaganda. This took various forms: the printed word and pictorial leaflets, radio broadcasts and cinema and poster campaigns.
White propaganda was mostly practical information intended for the Home Front. Black propaganda targeted enemy morale, and there was a strong Scottish involvement in the clandestine organisation that developed it – the Political Warfare Executive.
On this website you'll find examples of British Government propaganda, from 'Make do and Mend' to 'Tag und Nacht'.
Online Campaign Literature Archive Every American election produces thousands of campaign flyers, pamphlets, posters, and bumper stickers, generally called "campaign literature." These documents provide an important record of the campaign, its participants, issues, and tactics. Despite this value, the small size, short production period, and irregular distribution of the documents, all outside the bounds of the traditional publishing industry, put most campaign literature beyond the scope of standard library collections. These materials are seldom saved for posterity.
About This Collection This database comprises sheet music from the McLellan Lincoln Collection at the John Hay Library and includes material written between 1859 and 1923. Music written about Lincoln ranges from popular song to compositions for orchestral performance. Although the focus is on Abraham Lincoln, these pieces offer an important resource for understanding the popular context of Lincoln’s life and presidency and, later, the significance of his legacy in American life. Between 1859 and 1865, popular music about Abraham Lincoln proliferated. Much more than simply suggesting 19th century musical fashions, Lincoln songs are an important source for understanding popular attitudes towards the Illinois candidate, later the 16th President, and his policy agenda.
A project of the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection Box A Brown University Library Providence, RI 02912 Tel.: (401) 863-2414 ASKB@Brown.edu Developed & hosted by Center for Digital Initiatives Box A Brown University Library Providence, RI 02912 cdi@brown.edu The Collection The Napoleonic satires housed in the Anne S. K. Brown Military collection of the John Hay Library represent several important gifts made to the library in the 20th century. In addition to the Napoleonic satires located in the military collection bequeathed by Ms. Brown, Paul Revere Bullard (Class of 1897) and William H. Hoffman contributed a variety of significant objects with a Napoleonic theme.
Guns, tanks, and bombs were the principal weapons of World War II, but there were other, more subtle forms of warfare as well. Words, posters, and films waged a constant battle for the hearts and minds of the American citizenry just as surely as military weapons engaged the enemy. Persuading the American public became a wartime industry, almost as important as the manufacturing of bullets and planes. The Government launched an aggressive propaganda campaign with clearly articulated goals and strategies to galvanize public support, and it recruited some of the nation's foremost intellectuals, artists, and filmmakers to wage the war on that front.
