Finding Aids to Individual Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture

THE WORLD WAR II RUMOR PROJECT COLLECTION

AFC 1945/001

Library of Congress, Washington DC
March 1995

SUMMARY

The World War II Rumor Project was coordinated under the auspices of the Office of War Information (OWI), Special Services Administration, which was established to achieve a coordinated governmental war-information program. The project created a collection of manuscripts, including some graphics. The program aimed to promote an intelligent understanding of the status and progress of the war effort, war policies, activities, and the aims of the United States government.

This project has two distinct components. The first component involved field representatives of various federal agencies who sent OWI manuscripts, or written reports, which they collected from individuals or "correspondents." The second component involved materials that were rumors, jokes, and anecdotes about the war from high school and college students collected by teachers.

Access and Reproduction: Viewing access to the collection is unrestricted. Duplication of the materials may be governed by copyright and other restrictions.

Key Subjects: armies; Churchill, Winston, Sir, 1874-1965; college students; high school teachers; Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945; navies; public opinion; Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945; rumor; student activities; war and education; war propaganda; wit and humor; World War, 1939-1945; Afro-Americans; Jews; Japanese; Germans

Languages and Dialects: English

Physical Description:

Manuscripts

10 boxes (141 folders)

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The World War II Rumor Project Collection contains the manuscript materials from the Office of War Information (OWI). The OWI was established by an Executive order on June 13, 1942, for the purpose of achieving a coordinated governmental war-information program. The information program was designed to promote an informed and intelligent understanding of the status and progress of the war effort, war policies, activities, and aims of the United States government. All functions of the Office of Facts and Figures and of the Office of Government Reports, and parts of the functions and related records of two other agencies were transferred to the OWI.

For the World War II Rumor Project, field representatives collected information from community-based correspondents and sent duplicate or triplicate copies of reports of the correspondents to Dr. Eugene Horowitz at the Bureau of Public Inquiries of the OWI. The reports listed rumors and anecdotes that were compiled by Dr. Horowitz and William H. Webber in the alphabetized order by states and by subjects.

This collection has two distinct components. The first component involved field representatives of various federal agencies in the United States instructed to enlist individuals in their communities who were willing to write down rumors and send them to the field representatives. These individuals or "correspondents" included dentists, beauty shop operators, policemen, proprietors, and librarians who had access to rumors in their communities.

The second component involved rumors, jokes, and anecdotes about the war from high school and college students collected by teachers. Correspondence within the folders indicates that some teachers removed some rumors or jokes in order to "show the best of their pupils." Within the documents, race designations vary. For one school, correspondence indicates that students were not asked to identify their race due to local tensions. However, the papers were taken up in order, and the teacher later added a designation as to the race of the student. The designations for African-American students appear as "Negro," "N," "Colored," "Col," or "C." Designations for white students appear as "White" or "W."

Graphics appear in the following folders:

Folder 114
Folder 118
Folder 122
Folder 123
Folder 127

The materials are divided into five series. Series I consists of administrative information about this project. The correspondence is in chronological order. Series II concerns the administrative information about local rumor-control projects and correspondence. Series III includes the reports of rumors gathered by correspondents, sent in by field representatives. Series IV contains rumors from correspondents and field representatives. They are arranged in broad topical categories as originally classified by Dr. Horowitz of the OWI. Series V includes the rumors, jokes, and anecdotes from high school and college students collected and submitted by teachers.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF SERIES

SERIES I

SERIES II

SERIES III

SERIES IV

Classifications are as follows:

SERIES V