I chose to search the Library of Congress’ Prints and Photographs Online Catalog for photographs of the World War II era, specifically searching for results that compared and contrasted images of life in the USA and life in Europe during this time. I sought image content that demonstrated the climate of wartime in these two very different contexts. To find these images I used the search terms “World War II”, “home front World War II”, “USA World War II”, “Germany World War II” and “Europe World War II”.
I was very intrigued by the results of my search. It was fascinating to have such immediate access to real-life images from this era of history. I also found the visual art, sketches, and cartoons, to be invaluable primary sources describing life during this era. The social and political commentary offered in photographs and artwork shows the feelings of real individuals who lived through this experience, as well as the endeavors of the media to control the portrayal of events.
It seems that the majority of items returned in my search results that depicted life in America during the World War II era contained cartoons of political commentary and images of wartime life portrayed in a positive light. Even Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. is shown posing in his jeep while in Europe. Likewise military men are shown looking cozy and comfortable, though packed into their quarters in the photograph “New York Port of embarkation during World War II. In days of peace, a stateroom for one.” Other photographs show women working in factories in the place of soldiers and officers in uniform shaking hands. One image that was particularly interesting is entitled “Fall Planting”, which depicts a skeletal woman sprinkling the ground with the bodies of fallen American soldiers, referred to as “the best seed of Europe.” This seems to contrast with another image that depicts thriving Iowa farmland during the war years. Another interesting image reveals political feelings toward Japan. This image, entitled “One killer still at large”, is a cartoon sketch composed in 1945, showing a hunter and two wolves. The first wolf, labeled “Nazi” is depicted as dead, while the second wolf, labeled “Japan”, stands off in the distance.
In contrast, the majority of images found of Europe during the second World War seemed to depict destruction and reconstruction, devastation, and combat. There are pictures of soldiers in harsh conditions, such as the photograph entitled “Im Osten” showing a German soldier in protective clothing on the freezing, Eastern front of the war. There are also images of refugees and civilians amid the rubble caused by bombings. One image in particular shows a British woman with her belongings being pulled behind her in a baby carriage on a street filled with debris. Also, Many of the search results returned aerial views of bombings in European countries.
The digital efforts of the library of congress are incredible, as they provide an opportunity for individuals who cannot travel to Washington D.C. to view their collections. However, many of my search results returned extremely small, hard-to-read images, with a note that larger versions were physically available at the Library of Congress, and many of the returned results were descriptions of items that were not available digitally at all.
I also felt that while the images were accessible, the smaller versions available digitally were not very useful. I would still need to travel to D.C. to see a full-size image in detail if I were doing in-depth work on the topic. In this respect, there is still work to be done on the behalf of the Library of Congress in digitizing their collection for the purposes of accessibility, but from the look and feel of the website, it seems as though work and improvements on digitization are currently underway. I expect that as time progresses, the library of congress will have a great deal of items digitized, revolutionizing the world of digital and special collections. This library holds many special, one-of-a-kind documents and items that, if digitized for all to access immediately, would be an extraordinary feat in the area of accessibility of information.
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