About the Collection
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. Last update in August 2026
Our WW II propaganda posters are largely American and originate from the Government Printing Office (GPO).
The were transferred to Special Collections in the early 2000s to protect them; both from theft and so that they could be stored flat. They are mostly transfers from our U.S. government documents holdings. They have been encapsulated, digitized and are used in both classes and exhibits. We have grouped them into the following categories:
- Folder 1: Books/Libraries
- Folder 2: Careless Talk
- Folder 3: Foreign Language
- Folder 4: Health & Safety
- Folder 5: Informational
- Folder 6: Inspirational/Patriotic
- Folder 7: Maps
- Folder 8: NewsMaps
- Folder 9: NewsMaps
- Folder 10: NewsMaps
- Folder 11: NewsMaps
- Folder 12: NewsMaps
- Folder 13: NewsMaps
- Folder 14: NewsMaps
- Folder 15: NewsMaps
- Folder 16: Rationing/Conservation
- Folder 17: Service & Production
- Folder 18: War Bonds & Loans
- Folder 19: World War I
William Powell Jones Papers
Biographical Sketch
Major William Powell Jones was born in 1901 and lived in Gates Mills, Ohio. Prior to World War II, Jones attended Harvard University and earned his Ph.D. in English there in 1927. He joined the service in January of 1943. While in the service, Jones served in the Military Intelligence Service. He attended a training school at Camp Savage, Minnesota and was responsible for conducting research on the manpower of the Japanese army. Jones left the Army in December of 1945 at the request of the President of Case Western Reserve University, who needed him to return to his position of English Professor. Jones eventually became the Dean of Adelbert College. Jones also continued to serve his country as a reserve officer until his health prevented him from doing so.
One of his sons, Nicholas Jones, an Associate Professor of English and chair of the department here at Oberlin College, donated his father's war service material for inclusion in the WWII propaganda collection.
Scope and Contents
The William Powell Jones papers consist of 10.5 inches of archived materials. Box 1 contains the papers: memos, letters, forms, certificates, news clippings, et al. Boxes 2 and 3 contain government manuals and publications that belonged to Jones. All materials in the collection pertain to World War II. Many concern Japan, as that was Jones' area of expertise. The post-war records of William Powell Jones are located at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.