Research Guides: War & Society: World War II

Florida State University is home to the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience, which strives to preserve the photographs, letters, and artifacts of service members and their families. For research on this pivotal even in world history, consider this rich collection, housed in the Claude Pepper Library, part of the FSU Libraries Special Collections and University Archives.

Institute on World War II and the Human Experience
The Institute's mission is to collect and preserve the memories of the men and women who participated in all the military branches, service with the Merchant Marine, Red Cross, USO, workers and volunteers on the Home Front during the WWII era and the immediate post-war period (i.e., 1939 - 1949). With over 6,000 collections and growing, the Institute is one of the largest repositories on WWII in the US. In 2001, Tom Brokaw donated countless items sent to him while writing his three books on “The Greatest Generation.”

Primary Source Materials

After the Day of Infamy: "Man-on-the-Street" Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor
Approximately twelve hours of opinions recorded in the days and months following the bombing of Pearl Harbor from more than two hundred individuals in cities and towns across the United States.
Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar
In 1943, Ansel Adams (1902-1984), America's most well-known photographer, documented the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California and the Japanese-Americans interned there during World War II. For the first time, digital scans of both Adams's original negatives and his photographic prints appear side by side allowing viewers to see Adams's darkroom technique, in particular, how he cropped his prints.
Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung (Great German Art Exhibition)
GDK Research publishes unknown photographic documents, administered by the Photo Study Collection of the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte (ZI), about art during the Nazi era via a freely accessible image database.
Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art)
The Victoria & Albert Museum (London) holds the only known copy of a complete inventory of 'Entartete Kunst' confiscated by the Nazi regime from public institutions in Germany, mostly during 1937 and 1938. The list of more than 16,000 artworks was produced by the Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda (Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda) in 1942 or thereabouts. It seems that the inventory was compiled as a final record, after the sales and disposals of the confiscated art had been completed in the summer of 1941. The inventory’s two typescript volumes provide crucial information about the provenance, exhibition history and fate of each artwork.

The Institute on World War II and the Human Experience and the FSU Libraries Special Collections combined hold over 500 collections of soldiers' accounts and personal stories from the homefront.

Search the library catalog or the database of archives and manuscripts for "World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives" to discover these materials.

Personal Narratives in the FSU Archives
Returns over 500 collections from the Institute for WWII and the FSU Libraries Special Collections.
Published Personal Narratives
Returns over 2,000 published personal accounts and interpretations of the war effort available in the FSU Libraries.

George S. Patton Papers: Diaries, 1910 to 1945
The diaries, 1910-1945, digitized for this online presentation, illustrate Patton's activities during the Mexican Punitive Expedition, World War I, and World War II. The volumes, particularly from 1942 to 1945, document Patton's daily activities and observations and reveal his candor about himself, personally and professionally.
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Part of a larger collection of Patton papers available for research use onsite in the Manuscript Reading Room of the Library of Congress.

Japanese-American Relocation Camp Newspapers: Perspectives on Day-to-Day Life This link opens in a new window
One of the darker chapters in American history and one of the lesser discussed events of World War II was the forced internment, during the war, of an important segment of the American population-persons of Japanese descent. This collection, consisting of 25 individual titles, documents life in the internment camps.
Abbreviation: jarc
Vendor: Gale
Coverage: 1942–1945
Subjects: Asian Studies, History
Type: Historical / Primary Sources
Service Newspapers of World War Two This link opens in a new window
This resource reveals the story of war as told by the newspapers that brought information, entertainment and camaraderie to the forces at home and overseas. Explore over 200 titles from key nations across the globe that took part in the world-changing conflict. The collection consists of newspapers published during the war years and the immediate aftermath (1939–1948). Titles from all the key theatres are featured, including some non-English material in German, Czech, Hindi, Russian, French, Italian, Afrikaans, Swahili, and other African dialects.
Abbreviation: snww2
Vendor: Adam Matthew Digital Ltd
Coverage: 1939–1948
Subjects: History
Type: Historical / Primary Sources, Newspapers and Newswires

There are many newspapers that would include coverage of military and domestic issues during times of war. To find newspapers in all formats held by FSU Libraries, search the library catalog by combining a city name with the keyword "newspapers."

Berlin (Germany) -- Newspapers

Visit the complete guide to Newspapers available from FSU Libraries to access major US, British, and other important newspapers available digitally and on microfilm.

Newspapers
by Kimberly Windham Last Updated Oct 9, 2024 5703 views this year

United States

American Presidency Project
An archives containing over 86,464 documents related to the study of the Presidency.

Congressional Publications (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Congressional Publications provides a comprehensive view of congressional action and the behind-the-scenes activity involved in crafting U.S. legislation. It includes the Congressional Research Digital Collection (CRDC), Committee Prints and CRS Reports (1824–Present), Statutes at Large (1789–present), and the Serial Set (1789–1969), and Hearings (1824-1979, 1980-2003). Includes the Federal Register & Political News. Note that not all hearings have full-text transcripts.
Tutorials:
ProQuest Congressional Publications LibGuide

Abbreviation: conguni
Vendor: ProQuest
Coverage: 1789–Current
Subjects: History, Law, Political Science, Public Administration and Policy, Public Safety and Security
Type: Government Publications

U.S. National Archives
Provides information for researching veterans' service records and other documents relating to U.S. military history. Some material is digitized, but most must be either requested (by veterans or family), or consulted in person in the Washington, DC, area, regional archives (e.g. St. Louis, MO), and/or Presidential Libraries.
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Finding Information on Personal Participation in World War II, National Archives and Records Administration guide.
Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1942-1953
Consists of multiple sets of microfilm, covering JCS meetings, strategic discussions, and more relating to WWII and the post-war world.
Online Collections from the U.S. Army Center of Military History
Collects various reports produced durring and after the war, all authored by the U.S. Army.
U.S. Army in World War II Series
Also known as “Green Books”, this multi-volume work is the official history of the U.S. Army in WWII. They include biographical information, organizational structure, and tactical and strategic overviews of various campaigns in the war.

Germany

Blitzkrieg to defeat: Hitler's war directives, 1939-1945 by Germany Wehrmacht Oberkommando
Call Number: D735.A1 G45
Publication Date: [1965]
Edited with an introd. and commentary by H. R. Trevor-Roper. "The text of these directives was originally published in Germany under the title of Hitlers Weisungen für die Kriegführung 1939-45, Dokumente des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht, edited by Walter Hubatsch."

Great Britain

British Documents on Foreign Affairs - Reports & Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print
Call Number: FSU STROZIER, Documents General Collection Ground Floor
JZ632 .B766 1997
Part III, which covers the World War II era, is organized by region. Each region consists of multiple volumes of primary source documents.

World War II Military Situation Maps
This collection contains maps showing troop positions beginning on June 6, 1944 to July 26, 1945. Starting with the D-Day Invasion, the maps give daily details on the military campaigns in Western Europe, showing the progress of the Allied Forces as they push towards Germany.
Bombing Britain
Each pin represents the location of one of over 32,000 German air raids on the United Kingdom between September 1939 and March 1945. By clicking on a pin, you can open a window that displays information on all the attacks on that location, including dates and times of attack and casualty numbers, based on wartime intelligence files from The National Archives, UK.

Peace

Trials of war criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10., : Nuernberg, October 1946-April 1949. by Germany (Territory under Allied occupation, 1945-1955. U.S. Zone) Military Tribunals
Call Number: Strozier Documents Collection, Ground Floor -- D102.8
Publication Date: 1949-1953
Case documents, with procedures, practice and administration. Commonly called the Green series.
Print volumes: D 102.8, 15 volumes.
Also available online via HeinOnline database.

Nuremberg Trials Project
The Harvard Law School Library's Nuremberg Trials Project is an open-access initiative to create and present digitized images or full-text versions of the Library's Nuremberg documents, descriptions of each document, and general information about the trials.
International Military Tribunal for the Far East
Informally known as the Tokyo War Crimes trial, lasted two and a half years, from April 29, 1946 to November 12, 1948. Roughly 7,000 documents consist of personal papers from members of the prosecution and defense sections, official IMTFE records, newspaper clippings, photographs, and other related trial materials.