Top of page

The Eleventh Hour: Veterans Day 2011

Share this post:

French Who Said at Verdun: "They Shall Not Pass"
French Who Said at Verdun: “They Shall Not Pass”, The War of the Nations: Portfolio in Rotogravure Etchings: compiled from the Mid-week Pictorial, New York: New York Times, Co., 1919. Page 133. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/sgpwar.19191231

In honor of this most auspicious anniversary of Veterans Day, falling as it does on 11/11/11, our colleagues in the Serial and Government Publications Division have launched a new set of World War I rotogravures in War of the Nations, 1919 on the Library of Congress Flickr site. During the World War I era (1914-18), leading newspapers took advantage of a new printing process that dramatically improved their ability to reproduce images. This rotogravure printing, which produced richly detailed, high quality illustrations—even on inexpensive newsprint paper—was used to create vivid new pictorial sections.

The launch of these rotogravures on Flickr reminds us of the thousands of photographs and posters documenting the war to be found in the collections of the Prints & Photographs Division. More significantly, it reminds us to take a moment to thank all veterans for their service. Thank you, veterans!

American soldiers in trenches, France, 1918
American Soldiers in Trenches, (near Verdun), France. Photo by US Army Signal Corps, 1918. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a42263
Feed a fighter - Eat only what you need - Waste nothing - That he and his family may have enough. Poster by Wallace Morgan, 1918.
Feed a Fighter – Eat Only What You Need . . . . Poster by Wallace Morgan, 1918. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3g09868

Learn More:

Track American sentiment about the war in Europe, week by week, before and after the United States became involved in a new set of rotogravures, War of the Nations, 1919. Events of the war are detailed alongside society news and advertisements touting products of the day, creating a pictorial record of both the war effort and life at home.

Learn more about rotogravures in newspapers during World War I in the American Memory collection Newspaper Pictorials: World War I Rotogravures.

Explore the variety and the impact of the Prints & Photographs Division’s collection of World War I Posters as a means of communication during wartime. The ability of posters to inspire, inform, and persuade combined with vibrant design trends in many of the participating countries to produce thousands of interesting visual works.

View thousands of images in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog related to World War I.

Do you have original diaries, journals, photographs, or letters from those who served during WWI?  The Veterans History Project in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress offers the ideal opportunity to preserve your family’s legacy as part of this important national repository.

Add a Comment

This blog is governed by the general rules of respectful civil discourse. You are fully responsible for everything that you post. The content of all comments is released into the public domain unless clearly stated otherwise. The Library of Congress does not control the content posted. Nevertheless, the Library of Congress may monitor any user-generated content as it chooses and reserves the right to remove content for any reason whatever, without consent. Gratuitous links to sites are viewed as spam and may result in removed comments. We further reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove a user's privilege to post content on the Library site. Read our Comment and Posting Policy.


Required fields are indicated with an * asterisk.