World War II Pamphlets

History:
This collection is actually a small part of the New York Public Library's collection of such pamphlets that had been collected in the 1940s. When the NYPL microfilmed their pamphlets for preservation, the originals were discarded (which is unlikely to happen anymore). A New York area book dealer acquired the originals, which numbered in the thousands. He later sold them to John Zubal, a Cleveland book dealer. Leonard V. Smith (Oberlin College History Department) and Eric Carpenter (Oberlin College Library) selected from the larger group the pamphlets that are currently in the College's collection. The pamphlets now reside in the Library's Special Collections Department and have been inventoried and organized in order that they might be accessed easily by interested scholars. An inventory of the collection is available online.

Scope and Content:
Oberlin College's collection of World War II pamphlets consists of 318 items from over 25 different countries, with the bulk of the collection representing the United States and Great Britain. The range of subjects covered in the materials is vast - everything from women's roles and underground resistance movements to anti-Roosevelt sentiment and army humor can be found. Library of Congress subject headings have been added to each record to assist in finding particular types of materials. The pamphlets are sorted first by country, then by publisher, and finally by title. Items that could be considered to be representative of more than one country have been labeled with both or all countries involved, but are sorted by the country that they seem to derive from most. For instance, a pamphlet that was printed in the United States but was issued by British Information Services would be listed as Great Britain/United States. The time frame of the collection spans the entire war and then some, running from at least the late 1930s through the early 1950s. The collection is expansive enough that a complete and complex picture of the war can be gained from it.

Laura Daugherty 2003