LibGuides: Primary Sources: World War II: Propaganda

Online Sources: Propaganda - WWII

Canadian War Posters Collection
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"The holdings of the Print Collection in the Rare Books and Special Collections Division include some 250 Canadian posters from the two World Wars. The posters are accessible to researchers who visit the Division's Lande Reading Room; a printed finding aid is available from the Reading Room Supervisor.
This website contains basic descriptions and images of each poster, an artist index, a search facility, and an essay about Canadian War Posters."
Canadian Wartime Propaganda
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"Propaganda is the organized dissemination of information to influence thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and actions. The posters and photographs in this exhibition demonstrate how words and images were used in Canada in the service of war between 1914 and 1945."
German Propaganda Archive
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This site is from Randall Bytwerk, a Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan (USA). The archive contains "a growing collection of English translations of propaganda material from Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic."
Posters on the American Home Front (1941-45)
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"World War II posters helped to mobilize a nation. Inexpensive, accessible, and ever-present, the poster was an ideal agent for making war aims the personal mission of every citizen. Government agencies, businesses, and private organizations issued an array of poster images linking the military front with the home front--calling upon every American to boost production at work and at home. " National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Powers of Persuasion
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Propaganda posters from the NARA related to WW II.
Printed Propaganda - Netherlands
Items are not in English
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A collection of Erfgoed van de Oorlog
"The national collection of printed propaganda includes brochures, folders and illegal pamphlets. During the Second World War, all parties tried to sway public opinion in their favor or to mobilize people to support the war effort. To do so, they used radio and film, which were relatively new media at the time, but they also distributed all kinds of ‘loose’ printed propaganda, like folders, brochures, and pamphlets. "
Propaganda — A Weapon of War
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"A selection of images of British Government propaganda which was used at home and in Europe during the Second World War."
Recruiting Posters for Women from World War II
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"This exhibit contains the works in the Navy Art Collection that relate to the recruitment of women during World War II. This includes not only finished posters, but also original artwork for the posters."
War Poster Collection
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"A selection of World War I and II posters from the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections Division collections. Included are propaganda on purchasing war bonds, the importance of national security and posters from allied and axis powers."
War Posters 1940-1945
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A collection of the NIOD Instituut voor Oorlogs-, Holocaust- en Genocidestudies , the Koninklijke Bibliotheek
"5000 posters from the momentous war years of 1940-1945 can be viewed on this site. The subject matter is very diverse: German propaganda campaigns, Mussert and his NSB party, recruitment notices for the Waffen SS, instructions for protecting the population against air-raids, leisure activities and German death sentences. Mayors informed their citizens of new German measures. The underground used placards to encourage resistance. In Dutch Indonesia, the Japanese occupier circulated propaganda posters."
War Posters Collection
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"A collaborative project between the University of Minnesota Libraries and the Hennepin County Library, this collection contains posters from government, commercial, and charitable organizations."
World War II - Posters ( Illinois State Library)
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"During World War II the United States government issued posters on topics such as national security, rationing and conservation, investing in war bonds, military recruitment, civil defense, and industrial production. These posters were part of an aggressive propaganda campaign designed to encourage and mobilize the home front war effort. Artists such as James Montgomery Flagg, Otto Fischer, Ben Shahn, and Norman Rockwell contributed their talents to create some of these posters.
This collection contains posters issued by various United States government agencies from the beginning of the war through 1945."
Collection provided by: Illinois State Library
The World War II Poster Collection (Northwestern)
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"The 338 items, primarily World War II-era posters, featured in this site's database were collected and preserved by the Northwestern University Government and Geographic Information and Data Services Department. Issued by various U.S. government agencies, these posters represent the government's effort, through art, illustration, and photographs, to pull the American people together in a time of adversity for the country and its population. "
World War Poster Collection (UNT Digital Library)
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"From World War I French victory figures to grim views of the Nazi regime, these posters demonstrate the power of words and images. The collection is particularly strong in World War I French and American posters, and World War II American "home front" posters. War bonds, rationing, enlistment, security, and morale are all topics treated by these artworks. The collection includes posters by such famous artists as Norman Rockwell, Theodore Geisel (better known as Dr. Seuss), and Boris Artzybasheff."
World War Two Collection ( UNT Digital Library Collection)
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"The World War Two Collection contains materials that focus on the World War II era, 1939-1945, and the immediate postwar period of the late 1940s. In addition to materials that were actually created during the era, the collection may include modern studies and commemorative works about the era."

Know Your Enemy - Japan!

This American propaganda film from the 1940s sought to educate Americans on the Japanese people, their land, and their alleged plan to take over the Pacific.

Eliot, George Fielding. Know Your Enemy - Japan!. Princeton, New Jersey. UNT Digital Library. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc13644/. Accessed October 25, 2011.

Book Sources: Propaganda - WWII

A selection of books/e-books available in Trible Library.
Click the title for location and availability information.

Off campus access instructions (for e-books)

Hitler and the Nazis : A History in Documents (ebook) by David F. Crew
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Call Number: Online - Ebook Central
ISBN: 9780195152852
Hitler and the Nazis: A History in Documents (print) by David F. Crew
Call Number: DD253 .C67 2005
ISBN: 0195152859
Presents a history of the rise and fall of Hitler and Nazism through original source documents, including Nazi party records and propaganda and documents from witnesses, Holocaust survivors, and individuals who resisted the Nazi regime.
Persuasive Images by Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace.
Call Number: D522.25 .H66 1992
ISBN: 0691032041
Posters of War and Revolution from the Hoover Institution Archives
Signal, Hitler's wartime Picture Magazine by S.L. Mayer
Call Number: D743.2 .S52 1976
ISBN: 9780138100513
Signal, Years of Triumph, 1940-42 by S.L. Mayer
Call Number: D743.2 .S55 1978
ISBN: 0138100101
Hitler's Wartime Picture Magazine
Triumph des Willens: das Dokument vom Reichsparteitag, 1934 by gestaltet von Leni Riefenstahl
Call Number: DD253.28 .T75 2006
Publication Date: Originally released as a documentary in 1935; new edition c2000.
German with English subtitles "Hergeltelt im Auftrage des Führers = Commissioned by order of the Fuhrer" Film of the 1934 Nazi party rally in Nuremberg. It is the "most powerful piece of propaganda ever produced".

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