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Finding Aid

World War II Short Films Collection, 1941-1947

MSS-303

Size: 24 film reels

Provenance: McMaster Hall, Main Campus, University of Toledo

Access: Open

Collection Summary: Collection consists of 24 film reels, 8mm and 16mm, of World War II propaganda, including a segment from Frank Capra's Academy Award-winning documentary series Why We Fight, training films, newsreels, and entertainment pieces by performers Jack Benny and Pete Smith.

Subject(s): Music, Art, Drama, and Theatre; War, Soldiers, and Veterans

Related Collections: Steve Pecsenye Collection, MSS-084; Gordon M. Deye Letters, MSS-229; William Emerson Hoopes Scrapbook, MSS-287

Processing Note:

Copyright: The literary rights to this collection are assumed to rest with the person(s) responsible for the production of the particular items within the collection, or with their heirs or assigns.  Researchers bear full legal responsibility for the acquisition to publish from any part of said collection per Title 17, United States Code.  The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections may reserve the right to intervene as intermediary at its own discretion.

Completed by: Sara Mouch, October 2015

Historical/Biographical Sketch

After the United States entered World War II following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the government sought to increase the people’s patriotism and war spirit.  In 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Office of War Information which, along with the War and State Departments, became the primary means of boosting American morale with the use of propaganda.  Support for an Allied victory was promoted through a wide array of media, including posters, advertising, comic books, leaflets, radio, and movies with subject matter like material drives, war bonds, female workforce in war production, and conservation of resources.   

Americans relied heavily on the radio for their news, which made it a popular media for propaganda, but Hollywood also contributed significantly to war-time entertainment and information.  Moviegoers were treated to more than a blockbuster when they went to the cinema.  War-related programming, such as newsreels that documented recent battles, ran for ten minutes before the feature film.  Director Frank Capra featured prominently during this time with his Academy Award-winning documentary series, Why We Fight, as did Castle Films’ News Parade, produced by former newsreel cameraman Eugene W. Castle.  On the other side of the world, in theaters run by the military, servicemen received home front news by way of the Army/Navy Screen Magazine, a biweekly, 20 minute-long episode that not only featured news from back home, but entertainment pieces from performers like Bob Hope and Judy Garland. 

The use of newsreels and documentaries in movie theaters, where ninety million people went every week, meant they had the farthest reach of any other media.  Commissioned by the U.S. government, they were a psychological weapon of war that reminded Americans of their fighting spirit and encouraged them to do more for the war effort.  The films in this collection represent a piece of that arsenal.

Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of 24 rolls of 8 mm and 16mm film dating back to World War II, and include single titles as well as multiple segments of a series that include propaganda newsreels, documentaries, and entertainment.  They are first arranged chronologically, then alphabetically.