J400: The United States Home Front during World War II
USDA pamphlet from Historic Government Documents from World War II, SMU Libraries
Here's a selection of resources to get you started on your research paper. Items marked with (*) are databases and digital collections available to you through the IUB Libraries. The rest are either original sources available in the Wells Library, or freely available internet resources.
Remember you can always contact the history librarian, Celestina Savonius-Wroth, cewroth@indiana.edu or the Government Documents librarians, libgpd@indiana.edu if you need help.
Finding Books
IUCAT- Indiana University Libraries' catalog.
Some useful subject headings (use Advanced Keyword Search ; search by Subject):
world war 1939-1945 personal narratives american
world war 1939-1945 public opinion
world war 1939-1945 war work
world war 1939-1945 women united states
japanese americans evacuation and relocation 1942-1945
united states social life and customs 1918-1945
Tip: to find primary sources, use Advanced Keyword Search, and limit your search by date of publication
Google Books Search and HathiTrust Digital Library – massive collections of digitized books. Use to find out about secondary sources, and for full text of some primary sources (although most books published after 1923 are not available in full text)
Newspapers and Magazines (as primary sources)
*Economist Historical Archive 1843-2003 - full text archive of the Economist
*Reader's Guide Retrospective - Complete index of 150-200 most widely circulated American periodicals. Citations only; all or most of the sources are available in the IU Libraries. Many popular magazines are available in Google Books now --try using the advanced book search, limit to "magazines," limit by date and limit to "full view only." Note that you may have to double-check in Reader's Guide to get the full citation for your bibliography.
*ProQuest Historical Newspapers - full text archive of several of the most important US newspapers, including the New York Times and Chicago Tribune. Also includes import African-American newspapers.
*Periodicals Index Online (PIO) - Searchable index of nearly 2,500 scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences, from their first issues through 1990/1991. (Some full text; mostly citations. Print copies are available in the Library or through interlibrary loan). To find primary sources, limit your search by date (for example, 1939-1945).
Time archive - Time Magazine's online archive, back to 1923
Selected primary source collections
Ad*Access (Duke University) - A digital archive of American advertising. Use Browse Ad*Access to find World War II-era materials.
America on the Home Front (National Archives at Boston) – primary source documents relating to New England during the War. Consult the main National Archives web site for many additional resources.
American Legion publications (print) - the American Legion Auxiliary is "the world's largest women's patriotic service organization." The IUB Main Library has their World War II-era publications (Research Collections, D570.A1 A22). Handle carefully!
American Memory: Photographs 1935-1945 (Library of Congress) - see also Homefront Resources from the American Memory Project at the Library of Congress
Densho archive - oral histories of Japanese Americans who were sent to internment camps during the War
*Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984 - FBI files documenting the scrutiny of African Americans (1920-1984)
Historic Government Documents from World War II - Informational pamphlets, government reports, instructions, regulations, declarations, etc. Digitized from archival collections.
*Lexis Nexis Congressional - searchable database/digital archive of U.S. congressional publications
The Morgenthau diaries. World War II and postwar planning, 1943-1945 - incredibly detailed diaries of Henry Morgenthau Jr, US secretary of the Treasury from 1934-1945. (Microforms, Pr32.2: M82/2x)
Papers of the NAACP. Part 26, Selected Branch files, 1940-1955, Series C: The Midwest - archives of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Microforms: check with staff)
Rosie the Riveter webcast and links (Library of Congress) – online resources plus an excellent research guide to women’s work during the War
Rutgers Oral History Interviews: Homefront – digitized transcripts of interviews
Voices of World War II - Actual radio broadcasts: includes programs about Homefront concerns (in collaboration with Truman Library). Note: you may encounter technical difficulties with the sound files.
War Relocation Authority Camps in Arizona (University of Arizona) - photographs from internment camps in Arizona
World War II Posters Exhibit at the Truman Libary
Finding secondary sources
*Academic Search Premier- Interdisciplinary database which contains citations and full text from a wide range of popular magazines and scholarly journals. (Full text from over 1000 journals and magazines; citations from 2000 additional titles.) To limit your search to articles from scholarly journals, select peer reviewed.*America: History and Life - Electronic index to about 2,000 scholarly journals relating to American History. Use world war ii as a subject, then add keywords to narrow search to specific topics.
* JSTOR - Provides searchable full-text of historical runs of important scholarly journals in the humanities, arts, sciences, ecology, and business. Very good source for book reviews.
Guides to research and writing, useful links
Smith, J. Douglas. World War II on the Web : a guide to the very best sites. (Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 2003). (Wells Library Research Collections D743 .S65 2003)
Using Primary Sources on the Web - Brief guide to evaluating the quality and reliability of web pages.
IUB History Department's J300/J400 page.
IUB Libraries How to Cite page - includes information on citing electronic resources and web sites.
IUB Libraries Request Article Delivery service - use this service to get scanned copies of articles from journals or magazines only available in print
