This collection consists of propaganda in various formats gathered by Justin Galford, an educator with a Ph.D. in American history, for teaching and research purposes. Materials include leaflets, newsletters, stamps, posters, postcards and other ephemera that were published between 1936 to 1956. The bulk of it relates to the American experience of the Second World War, especially on the Home Front. The collection also includes documents from the period leading up to the American entry into the war in 1941, including propaganda for and against American entry into the conflict. It contains small amounts of British, French and Canadian ephemera, including patriotic postcards and propaganda leaflets. Some of the documents relate to the experience of American students and teachers during the war, including materials meant to guide teachers in instructing their pupils about the purposes and causes of the war, American values, and the motivations and natures of the Axis powers. Other documents relate to the selling of war bonds, scrap drives, rationing, and other aspects of the wartime civilian experience. Some items relate to the early postwar period, including NATO forces in Europe in the 1950s and the post-1945 fate of the islands of the Pacific Ocean. The collection also contains a small amount of anti-communist material published in the 1950s.
The collection is unprocessed. A preliminary inventory is available in the department.
