Tales from Under Grounds II: War

This is the final of four posts, spotlighting the mini-exhibitions of students from USEM 1570: Researching History.

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Turner Labrie, First-Year Student

Turner Labrie

Photograph of Turner Labrie by Sanjay Suchak, November 18, 2014.

Virginia and The Spanish American War

In February of 1895, the Spanish-controlled island of Cuba erupted in rebellion. Over the course of their fighting with the rebels, the Spanish employed increasingly brutal repression tactics. These brutal tactics were further sensationalized by American newspapers, a method that is now better known as “yellow journalism.”  In response to the growing unrest in Cuba and domestic pressures at home, the United States government sent naval crafts to protect US citizens residing in Cuba.

The Spanish-American War began in April of 1898, prompted by the inexplicable explosion in the USS Maine, which was one of the ships based outside of Havana protecting U.S. interests. After the explosion, fighting erupted between the United States and Spain in various parts of the world, including Puerto Rico, Spain and the Philippines. Ultimately, the United States won the war, made Puerto Rico and the Philippines their territories, and freed Cuba from Spanish control.

This exhibition documents Virginia’s involvement in the Spanish American War.

Soldier's Memorial, Spanish American War of 1898: Suffolk Light Infantry. Company G. Fourth Regiment, Virginia Volunteer Infantry ... Organized at Suffolk, Va., June 22, 1892 mustered into the United States Service at Richmond, Va., May 23, 1898. Washington, D.C.: Fuller Bros., 1898. (Poster 1898 .S73) This poster portrays the Suffolk Light Infantry in combat, and in the middle, it lists members of the Company G, including officers. Virginia was expected to contribute heavily to the war, but outside of the involvement of a couple regiments, it served more in an ancillary role. Many supplies were shipped through its ports and camps were established throughout the state to train soldiers for combat. That being said, fourteen of the deceased sailors from the explosion of the Maine were originally from Virginia.

Soldier’s Memorial, Spanish American War of 1898: Suffolk Light Infantry. Company G. Fourth Regiment, Virginia Volunteer Infantry … Organized at Suffolk, Va., June 22, 1892 mustered into the United States Service at Richmond, Va., May 23, 1898. Washington, D.C.: Fuller Bros., 1898. (Poster 1898 .S73)
This poster portrays the Suffolk Light Infantry in combat, and in the middle, it lists members of the Company G, including officers. Virginia was expected to contribute heavily to the war, but outside of the involvement of a couple regiments, it served more of an ancillary role. Many supplies were shipped through Virginia’s ports, and camps were established throughout the state to train soldiers for combat. That being said, fourteen of the deceased sailors from the explosion of the USS Maine were originally from Virginia.

Capt. Edgar de Duphane. Wanted. 100 Volunteer Crack Shots, for Immediate Service. New Market, VA: Henkel & Co., Printers, 1898. (Broadside 1898 .D84) Captain Edgar de Duphane posted this message in New Market, Virginia to encourage proficient shooters to join the US Army at the outbreak of the Spanish American War. These shooters would then be shipped off to various camps throughout the country for integration into the army. From there, they would be sent to participate in the fighting against Spanish forces.

Capt. Edgar de Duphane. Wanted. 100 Volunteer Crack Shots, for Immediate Service. New Market, VA: Henkel & Co., Printers, 1898. (Broadside 1898 .D84)
Captain Edgar de Duphane posted this message in New Market, Virginia to encourage proficient shooters to join the U.S. Army at the outbreak of the Spanish American War. The shooters were then sent to various camps throughout the country for integration into the army. From there, they  fought against Spanish forces.

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Max Novick, First-Year Student

Max Novick presents a WWI era scrapbook, November 18, 2014. (Photograph by Sanjay Suchak)

Max Novick presents a WWI era scrapbook, November 18, 2014. (Photograph by Sanjay Suchak)

Propaganda and Sentiments of World War I

While World War I can be at times dwarfed by the magnitude of the Second World War, many of the same feelings of fear that the Allies expressed towards the German enemy still existed. Through this mélange of emotions, the use of propaganda became commonplace to strike fear in the heart of the enemy and to motivate the allied nations. Though propaganda can be quite coarse and grating, this mini-exhibition makes an attempt to display a few types of this curious art form.

Through the use of five dissimilar items, this exhibit moves in a somewhat linear fashion, from crass to serious, in order to capture the very essence of the emotions that were shared in the Allies battle against the Imperial forces.  Nevertheless, Novelist James Dickey’s sentiments to a major donor to Virginia of this era caps the exhibition in its ability to look beyond the pairing of one side versus another and at the real issue of humans versus humans.

Falser, M. “Pour le suprême effort.” World War I posters 1914-1918.  (MSS 5023-b) Robertson Gift Dec. 1969 Produced in 1918, artist, M. Falser, shows a darkly colored image of a French soldier in fierce, but advantageous, combat with an eagle. This black eagle as well as the helmet known as a Pickelhaube, are signs of the German Imperial Army. The violent force with which the French soldier maims this Imperial enemy seeks to inspire hope and courage within the nation of interest, like many propaganda posters of the time, and to deflate the image of the enemy.

Falser, M. “Pour le suprême effort.” World War I posters 1914-1918. (MSS 5023-b) Robertson Gift Dec. 1969
Produced in 1918, artist M. Falser shows a darkly colored image of a French soldier in fierce combat with an eagle. This black eagle as well as the helmet known as a Pickelhaube are signs of the German Imperial Army. The violent force with which the French soldier maims this Imperial enemy seeks to inspire hope and courage within the nation of interest and to deflate the image of the enemy.

 

Dickey, James. “For Matt Bruccoli’s Father.” Letter. World War I Memorabilia. (MSS 10875-s) Bruccoli Great War Collection. Gift of Matthew J. Bruccoli, July, 1997  Famous American novelist, James Dickey, through this extremely personal letter, offers a writer’s input on the war. This letter looks beyond the simplicities of propaganda and talk about war’s more virulent nature. This note does not degrade the enemy in any way, but rather looks at the matter from the perspective of a human being to express the atrocities and horrors that war imposes on mankind.

By arrangement with the Heirs of James Dickey and their agents Raines & Raines. James Dickey. Letter for Matt Broccoli’s Father, July 1997. (MSS 10875-s) Bruccoli Great War Collection. Gift of Matthew J. Bruccoli.
Famous American novelist, James Dickey, through this extremely personal letter, offers a writer’s input on the war. This letter looks beyond the simplicities of propaganda and talks about war’s more virulent nature. This note does not degrade the enemy in any way, but rather looks at the matter from the perspective of a human being to express the atrocities and horrors that war imposes on mankind.

 

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Emily Templin, First-Year Student

Emily Templin

Photograph of Emily Templin by Sanjay Suchak, November 18, 2014.

World War II Propaganda in America

America officially entered World War II after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. While American soldiers were off fighting for the Allied cause, other forces worked to keep the home front involved and in support of the war. The Office of War Information (OWI), created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1942, was designed to help mobilize domestic support and keep citizens informed. The OWI produced propaganda, such as radio broadcasts, newspaper articles, posters, and photographs that served as a direct appeal to citizens at home to support the war.

Much of the propaganda tended to focus on how everyone could “play their part” in the war effort, including buying war bonds, rationing, and conserving scrap metal and rubber. Ultimately, propaganda helped to shape the culture of the American home front, sparking a unified effort to help fight the war by any means possible.

1942 War Bonds Poster. "We Shall Win Or We Shall Die": Double Your Shares In the U.S.A. ... Buy War Bonds and Stamps Today!. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1942.  (Poster 1942 .W4) This 1942 propaganda poster advertises the sale of war bonds as a way for people at home to contribute to the war effort. Since World War II was a “total war,” patriotic propaganda was used to garner support for the war on the American home front. The poster’s language serves to unite soldiers with civilians back home in a combined revenue-raising effort that both financially and morally supports the war

1942 War Bonds Poster. “We Shall Win Or We Shall Die”: Double Your Shares In the U.S.A. … Buy War Bonds and Stamps Today!. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1942. (Poster 1942 .W4)
This 1942 propaganda poster advertises the sale of war bonds as a way for people at home to contribute to the war effort. Since World War II was a “total war,” patriotic propaganda was used to garner support for the war on the American home front. The poster’s language serves to unite soldiers with civilians back home in a combined revenue-raising effort that both financially and morally supports the war.

 

United States of America. Four Freedoms Booklet. Louis G. Cowan World War II Propaganda Collection, 1941-1946  (MSS 11569) Based on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech, this booklet elaborates how the freedoms of speech and worship and the freedoms from want and fear operated in America. The booklet contrasts pictures of America’s happy children, education systems, and plentiful harvests with pictures of the violence, government restrictions, and food lines in Axis countries in order to promote the Allied war efforts.

United States of America. Four Freedoms Booklet. Louis G. Cowan World War II Propaganda Collection, 1941-1946. (MSS 11569)
Based on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech, this booklet elaborates how the freedoms of speech and worship and the freedoms from want and fear operated in America. The booklet contrasts pictures of America’s happy children, education systems, and plentiful harvests with pictures of the violence, government restrictions, and food lines in Axis countries in order to promote the Allied war efforts.

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Timothy Rodriguez, First-Year Student

Timothy Rodriguez

Timothy Rodriguez talks to a attendee about his exhibition, November 18, 2014. (Photograph by Sanjay Suchak)

Cold War Propaganda in the United States and the Soviet Union

The Cold War, which started in 1946 after the end of the Second World War, produced a significant amount of propaganda on both sides. In the United States, this propaganda was focused against the nature of the communist regimes in Soviet Bloc countries and on the ideals of communism. For the Soviets, the propaganda was more focused on convincing citizens that their system of governance and economic structuring was superior to capitalist countries like the United States.

This exhibition contains propagandist pictures, literature and broadsides that represent some of the most subtle and blatant propaganda of the Cold War. Sources include both the Soviet and American governments as well as special interest groups with Anti-communist agendas.

Siebel, Fred O. "Eyes on Formosa." Richmond Times Dispatch. 1 Jan. 1950. Original drawing by Fred Seibel. Published in the Richmond Times Dispatch, this cartoon, drawn by Fred Siebel, is a piece of American anti-communist propaganda and political commentary. The depiction of communism as a gigantic octopus, embossed the Soviet Union’s hammer and sickle, is a clear statement of the American perspective of communism as an expansionary threat to the world. The cartoon is intending to convey the intent of the communists specifically in China of taking over the island of Formosa, now known as Taiwan.    (still need permission)

Siebel, Fred O. “Eyes on Formosa.” Richmond Times Dispatch. 1 Jan. 1950. Original drawing by Fred Seibel. (MSS 2531)
Published in the Richmond Times Dispatch, this Fred Siebel cartoon is a piece of American anti-communist propaganda and political commentary. The depiction of communism as a gigantic octopus, embossed with the Soviet Union’s hammer and sickle, is a clear statement of the American perspective of communism as an expansionary threat to the world. The cartoon conveys the intent of the communists, specifically in China, to take over the island of Formosa, now known as Taiwan.

Pedigo, Jess L. Yes, Ginger. Communism Is Your Enemy. Tulsa: Christian Crusade Publications, 1970.  This booklet was published by the Christian Crusade publication company in 1970. During the Cold War many organizations in the United States, including Christian Crusades, published Anti-Communist literature. This specific booklet is a story directed at children informing them of the supposed evils of communism and as per the title explains why communism is their enemy. This artifact is a prime example of religious, anti-communist propaganda which was prevalent during the cold war era.

Pedigo, Jess L. Yes, Ginger. Communism Is Your Enemy. Tulsa: Christian Crusade Publications, 1970. (HX44 .P42 1972)
During the Cold War, many organizations in the United States, including Christian Crusades, published anti-communist literature. This specific booklet, directed at children, informs them of the supposed evils of communism and as per the title explains why communism is their enemy. This artifact is a prime example of religious, anti-communist propaganda which was prevalent during the cold war era.

 

 

 

ABCs of Special Collections: V is for…

Hello again, and welcome to the ABCs of Special Collections!  This week’s selections represent the twenty-second letter of the alphabet,

(Photograph of Petrina Jackson)

“V” from a WWII postcard. (MSS 15270. Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

V is for Jones Very

Jones Very was a nineteenth-century American poet, essayist, and spiritualist associated with Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalist movement. Emerson found Very’s work to be admirable and did what he could to promote it, but Very, operating on an evolving belief that he was the Second Coming of Christ, put off many who found his work otherwise worthwhile. Very was briefly institutionalized, and when released, led a secluded life for the rest of his days.

A search of the Library’s holdings shows five records, including three manuscript poems in his hand, several entries in contemporary periodicals, and his personal copy of Essays and Poems, dated 1839.

Contributed by George Riser, Collections and Instruction Assistant

(Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

Shown here is Very’s own copy of his Essays and Poems, 1839. (PS3125 .A2 1839. Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature. Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

(Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

Jones Very’s poem, “The Cold Spring in North Salem” in The Pioneer, a Literary and Critical Magazine, 1843. (AP2 .P59 V.1: no.1-2 1843. Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

V is for “Victory Mail,” also known as “V-Mail”

During World War II, the exchange of letters between soldiers and home was considered essential to morale. At the same time, massive quantities of war material and supplies had to be transported around the world by sea and sky. Special single-letter sheets were designed to be censored, microfilmed and then shipped back to the states. After transport overseas, the reels–each containing thousands of photographed letters–were then “blown up” at a processing center, printed, and delivered.

Contributed by Sharon Defibaugh, Manuscripts and Archives Processor

(Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

The originals of V-Mail and Postcards as written by  William S. Kibler as he served abroad. This original would be microfilmed and, in this case, the original returned to the sender.  (MSS 15270. Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

(Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

Here is what a V-Mail looked like on the other end, after the microfilm reel arrived in the states and was printed for distribution. This example was written by Edward F. Batchelor to his parents in 1942.  Batchelor was a member of the 29th Division Signal Company. (MSS 14797. Purchased by the Robert and Virginia Tunstall Trust Fund, 2009/2010. Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

See you in two WWWWWeeks! (Guess what letter’s next?)

The Taxman: What a Founder, a Poet, and a Fascist Have in Common

Tax records are probably the last thing you would think that Special Collections libraries possess. However, along with our many books, photographs, letters, drawings, and more, the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library has financial records, such as tax materials, in its many collections documenting the life and work of people and their businesses.  These records document how citizens pay the government for services and benefits, and as such reveal much about those citizens’ work, but they also serve a secondary use: for instance, a tax form close at hand might become the surface for a draft of a literary work.  This post shows both utilities of these most ubiquitous records through their use by the famous–and infamous.

Imagining Thomas Jefferson’s Debt and Wealth Through Sheriff Ledgers

In colonial Albemarle County, Virginia, as in some other Virginia counties, the sheriff collected taxes.  Thomas Jefferson, as a major plantation and slave owner, was, of course, not exempt from these taxes.

Image of Thomas Jefferson, engraved by T. Johnson from the painting by Gilbert Stuart. (MSS 5845. Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

During the American Revolutionary War, Nicholas Hamner was the Sheriff of Albemarle County.  As a duty of his office, he kept a ledger of all of the citizens who owed and paid taxes in the county.  We hold one of those ledgers, dated from 1782-1783, the last two years of the Revolutionary War.  Shown here is the tax assessment for Thomas Jefferson.  Jefferson was taxed on his land and moveable property, including his slaves and cattle.  He also had to pay a parish levy, which covers ministers’ salaries, church upkeep, and aid to the poor and orphans:

Nicholas Hamner’s Sheriff’s Ledger for the assessment of taxes in Albemarle County, Va. for the year 1782, opened to the page spread numbered 49. The last entry on the spread is Thomas Jefferson. On the verso (left) is the list of debts/taxes he has to pay, while on the recto (right) is the list of tax credits/payments he has made. (MSS 3455. Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

Detail of Jefferson’s debt or taxes owed for the year 1782.  The taxes were all assessed in British Pounds. Here you can see that Jefferson has to pay a land tax, a poll tax for two white males, a property tax on 129 slaves, 23 horses and six wheels.  He also has to pay parish levies, which defrays the cost of ministers, upkeep of the churches, and aid to the poor and orphans.  Further research might explain how or why he was assessed for the named people on the list, such as Mary Moore. (MSS 3455. Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

Detail of Jefferson’s credits or payment of his taxes for  1782.  On September 18, 1782, 12 days after the death of his wife Martha, Jefferson paid part of his taxes by cash.  He also paid by way of George Nicolson and W. Nicolson; a tax historian might be able to explain this detail.  Jefferson has a zero balance by April of the following year 1783.

Seeing the Evolution of Walt Whitman’s Poetry Through His Chosen Surface: Tax Forms

Poet Walt Whitman lived, worked as a journalist, and wrote poetry in New York during the 1840s and 1850s.  It is here that he composed his poems for the third edition of Leaves of Grass.  He wrote his poems on scraps of paper. Some of the paper were melon-colored, while others were plain, and still more were actual tax forms from the city of Williamsburgh (Brooklyn).  Whitman worked in a print shop as well as at the Brooklyn Times, so it is likely the paper was produced as part of a job printing at one of his places of employment.  The Special Collections Library holds a number of handwritten poetry drafts on these particular tax forms, as part of the massive fragmentary draft for the third edition of Leaves of Grass, one of the cornerstones of the Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature.  Fredson Bowers, bibliographer and professor of English at the University of Virginia from 1938 to 1975, used all manner of physical evidence available to him in these artifacts to reconstruct the manuscript’s likely original order.

Engraving of Walt Whitman from the frontispiece of the third edition, first issue of Leaves of Grass (PS 3201. 1860 copy 4, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature. Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

Whitman drafted his poems on all different scraps of paper, including the backs of tax forms from the City of Williamsburgh [Brooklyn, NY].  During the 1850s, Whitman worked at a printing shop and the Brooklyn Times newspaper, where it is likely that they did many job printings, including these tax forms.  This featured manuscript copy of a poem, written on the back of the tax form, would later become part of the third edition of Leaves of Grass. (MSS 3829, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature. Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

Detail of tax form on which Whitman wrote some of his poems for the third edition of Leaves of Grass. (MSS 3829, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature. Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

Reading Hitler’s Rise Through His Falling Taxes

Oron Hale was an historian, University of Virginia professor, U.S. Army Major with the Intelligence Division of the War Department during World War II, and Commissioner for Bavaria with the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany. During his government service in Germany, he witnessed first-hand the rise of Hitler and National Socialism in Europe; after the war he took part in a special mission of the U.S. War Department’s Historical (Shuster) Commission in Germany, interrogating the surviving defeated leaders of the Third Reich, including Hermann Göring, Wilhelm Keitel, Karl Dönitz, and Joachim von Ribbentrop among others.

The Oron Hale Papers at the Special Collections Library include his personal and office correspondence, manuscripts of his published writings, records relating to his academic activities and government service in Germany, and declassified intelligence reports.  One unexpected, and fascinating component of the collection is the set of contemporary photostats of Adolf Hitler’s tax returns from 1925 through 1935, which were among the documents seized by the Allies during the war.

Photograph of Oron J. Hale, ca. 1942.  At the time of this photograph, Hale was a U.S. Major, serving with the Intelligence Division of the War Department General Staff in Washington. (MSS 12800-a. Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

Hitler’s taxes show his metamorphosis from struggling writer to powerful–and financially well-off–dictator in a relatively short amount of time.

First page of Hitler’s completed 1925 tax forms. Here you can see his signature and the statement of his profession as writer (Schriftsteller) from Munich (München). He owns no real estate property. (MSS 12800-a. Photograph by Petrina Jackson.)

On page 3 of Hitler’s 1925 tax form, Hitler’s property tax declaration is limited to one writing desk and two bookshelves with books. The combined cost of those items was 1000 Reichsmark. (MSS 12800-a. Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

Signed, final page of Hitler’s 1925 tax forms. (MSS 12800-a. Photograph by Petrina Jackson)

Here are some other points of interest in his tax files found in notes, translated by Hale, from Hitler’s tax files:

In 1925, Hitler buys a motor-car II A 6699 in February 1925 for 20.000 Reichsmark (RM), but must explain to the tax office where he got the money for this purchase. He responds that he borrows it from a bank.  In this year he also asks for an extension to pay his taxes by installments.

In 1933, the Minister of Finance makes a decision that Hitler is not to pay any income tax on his fees as Reichskanzler (chancellor of the empire).

In 1934, The Reichsminister of Finance decides that Hitler may deduct 50% of his income as propaganda costs.

The final translated note is from Dr. Lizius (senior finance government official and manager of finances for Munich-West), and it reads:  “On Febr. 25, 1935 President Mirre called me by telephone and said, that Staatssekretär Reinhardt had informed the Führer of the apprehension concerning his exemption from taxation as Head of the State and that the Führer dealt the opinion of Herr Mirre and Reinhardt.  The order, that the Führer should be tax-free, thereby would be final.  Upon that I withdrew all records of the Führer from the ordinary business performance and put them under lock.”

These documents–and those of Thomas Jefferson and Walt Whitman–are a very particular kind of historical evidence, and our collections are replete with other fascinating examples. Who knew tax records weren’t just mundane frustrations we are happy to file away as quickly as possible each year? And who knows what stories our own tax forms might tell someday?

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I would like to extend a special thanks to Chad Wellmon, assistant professor of Germanic languages and literatures for helping me by translating into English the German tax documents.

I would also like to give a special thanks to my colleagues Heather Riser, Special Collections’ head of reference and research services, and Donna Stapley, Assistant to the Special Collections director, for their research help with interpreting the 1782 Sheriff’s ledger.