America at War: 1941-1945

Early in 2003 the University of Richmond decided to use their World War II documents collection for their first digitization project utilizing the Endeavor ENCompass product. This collections represents hundreds of documents, comprising several series, such as GI Roundtable, Army Talks, and Firepower. Plans are in progress to seek a grant opportunity with partner institutions to digitizing large format "News Maps" published weekly during the course of the war.

The first series of the collection to be digitized is GI Rountable.The G.I. Roundtable pamphlet series was created by the Historical Service Board of the American Historical Association under the direction of the U.S. Army’s Division of Education and Information. The intention of the pamphlet series was to educate American military personnel about the reasons they were fighting, the nature of their enemies and their allies and what shape the postwar world would take. The first pamphlets were published in 1943, publication continued through 1946. There were a total of 42 titles published with another 6 either censored or not published for other reasons. The University or Richmond holds 36 of these pamphlets. The pamphlets offer an extraordinary look at the U.S. military and U.S. society during World War Two. Opening date for this series is Memorial Day, May 31st 2004.

The second pamphlet series that will be added to the America at War collection is Army Talks. Army Talks was the newsletter published by the U.S. Army's Orientation Branch for its forces in the European Theatre of Operations. The newsletter carried a variety of information of interest to soldiers including tips for surviving combat, morale boosting articles and information on Allied and enemy forces.The University of Richmond owns 71 issues of the weekly publication covering October 1943 through May 1945 though the run is incomplete. It includes 5 issues of Army Talks for the Eighth Air Force, a publication specifically for the Army Air Force's Eighth Air Force. Completion date for this series is projected for November 2004.

In March of 2004, University Libraries Director, Jim Rettig, sent out a call to local universities, museums and libraries to gauge their interest in collaborating with the University of Richmond in building this important digital collection. We are seeking cooperative partnerships with organizations who might own collections that would complete and complement the WWII documents collection that we are in the process of digitizing and making openly accessible. If you would like more information, please contact Laura Horne, University of Richmond Government Information Librarian, or Chris Kemp, Head of Digital Initiatives.

Search America at War:1941-1945