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!
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.