LibGuides: Primary Sources for United States History: WWII

Starting Points

Image: 1942 "Bonds not Bunds" poster. From the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections.

Major Collections:

Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project
Digital collection that documents the female experience in the Armed Forces through letters, papers, photographs, published materials, uniforms, artifacts, and oral histories from WWI to the present
Rutger's Oral History Archives
Oral histories and additional documents from those that participated in WWII, Korea and Vietnam wars
Veteran's History Project
Oral history interviews of American veterans from WWI to the present; also includes other primary material.

All Hands 1922-2011
The magazine of the US Navy
Democracy at War: Canadian Newspapers and the Second World War
Digitized collection of more than 144,000 newspaper clippings
Life Magazine 1936-1972
Digitized issues of the popular illustrated magazine.
Pacific Citizen
Paper of the Japanese American Citizens League covering 1929 - 1955
Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project
Digitized versions of The Jewish Criterion (1895-1962), The American Jewish Outlook (1934-1962), and The Jewish Chronicle (1962-Present)
Wartime Columns of Ernie Pyle
Collection of 40 columns by the noted WWII journalist

Franklin D. Roosevelt Collections
Digitized documents dealing with diplomacy and other mattters
Truman Library Online Documents
Truman administration documents cover the end of WWII and the postwar period

After the Day of Infamy: "Man-on-the-Street" Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor
12 hours of opinions gathered in the days and months following Pearl Harbor
Historic Publications from World War II
More than 300 US government documents dealing with the war effort at home
Posters of World War II
2000 American propaganda posters
Real Rosie the Riveter Project
Oral history videos with women who worked in factories during WWII
War Posters Collection from UMedia Archive
This is a huge collection of posters from various sources.
World War Two Collection
This collection of over 600 items includes posters, pamphlets & other material from the WWII era.

Battle of Britain
Royal Air Force Museum's site includes background information, daily reports and photographs
Federal Newsmaps
Collection of newsmaps, Army publications that depict key events in the war with maps and photographs
Imagebase WW2
Thousands of war images from the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation
Nanking Massacre Project
"Digital Archive of Documents & Photographs from American Missionaries Who Witnessed the Rape of Nanking"
Nazi Invasion of Poland in 1939
Small digital collection of American photojournalist Harrison Forman's photographs & diary
PhotosNormandy
Photos documenting the Battle of Normandy and its aftermath (summer of 1944)
World War II Films
Digitized collection of more than 120 short films and newsclips
Eisenhower Communiques
Communiques relate the daily progress of the Allied campaign in Europe from D-Day on June 6, 1944 until the German surrender on May 7, 1945

Holocaust Rescue and Relief
Digitized documents of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, an organization that aided Holocaust survivors
Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal
The "official record of the trial of the major civilian and military leaders of Nazi Germany who were accused of war crimes." Also see the Nuremberg Trials Project, the Eichmann trial & the Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Museum site includes a number of exhibits with primary documents including images and oral histories.
Voices of the Holocaust
Collection of 70 early interviews of Holocaust survivors. Also see other oral history collections: Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive, Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust & Fritz Bauer Institute.
Yad Vashem
The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority includes more than 100,000 digitized photographs, the Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names and exhibits

Densho
Collection of oral histories, photographs and documents dealing with Japanese American history with special focus of World War II

Japanese American National Museum Collections
Digitized collections include WWII era diary, artwork and photos
Japanese American Relocation Digital Archives
Digitized photographs, documents, diaries, and and more illustrating the Japanese American experience especially during World War II
War Relocation Authority & the Incarceration of Japanese-Americans During World War II
Collection of more than 60 WRA documents from the Truman Library

Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II
Collection of more than 60 documents dealing with the decision to drop the bomb and the immediate aftermath
Decision to Drop the Atom Bomb
Collection of Truman presidency documents dealing with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki