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Course & Subject Guides

Soldier, Writer, Artist, Photographer: Accounts from Europe, 1914-1945 @ Pitt Special Collections: ULS Resources

A guide to accompany the work on exhibit from Fall 2015-Spring 2016 at Hillman Library.

Selection of Books On Display

All books listed available through the ULS

 

 

Le Feu (Journal d'une Escoude) by Henri Barbusse

Call No. - PQ2603 .A32 F4

A Farewell to Arms by Earnest Hemingway 

Call No. - PS3515 .E37 F3 1929

Im Westen Nichts Neues by Erich Maria Remarque 

Call No. - PT2635 .E68 I3 

Toward the Flame by William Hervey Allen

Call No. - D570.9 .A42 1926

Terre Des Hommes by Antoine de Sait-Exupery

Call No. - PQ2637 .A274 T4 1939

Kings, Queens and Pawns: An American Woman at the Front by Mary Roberts Rinehart

Call No. - D640 .R5 1915

 

 

Historic Pittsburgh

Historic Pittsburgh is a comprehensive collection of local resources that supports personal and scholarly research of the western Pennsylvania area. The project represents a model of cooperation between libraries, museums and institutions of higher learning in providing centralized access to selections of their respective historic materials.

Finding Aids

Hervey Allen Papers, 1831-1965.

The Hervey Allen Papers primarily document the writing, publishing, and producing of Allen's literary works. They include manuscripts and notes, contracts with publishers and producers, proofs, correspondence with editors and readers, illustrations, and published works. Also present are family papers which include personal materials such as correspondence, diaries, genealogical research, journals, newspaper clippings, photographs, and scrapbooks from multi-generations of the Allen family.

 

Mary Roberts Rinehart Papers, 1831-1994.

 
Finding Aids for Relevant Materials (Not on Exhibit)
 
John Durkalski Papers 
 
John Durkalski, a lieutenant in the United States Army, wrote these 97 holographic letters from various European locations during World War II.
 
Manus McCloskey Papers
 
This collection consists of the papers of Manus McCloskey (1874-1963), a U.S. Army General. Includes letters, correspondence, a journal, diaries, photographs, and printed material concerning McCloskey's military career, in particular the Philippines Insurrection, the Boxer Rebellion, and World War I, as well as official war reports and material on the army's role during the Great Depression.
 
Eugene F. Premru Papers
 
The Eugene F. Premru Papers consist primarily of letters written to and by Premru during his service as an enlisted soldier in World War II. Also included are government documents related to his military service, German soldiers’ documents, and photographs (snapshots) and ephemera from the same time period.
 
Wirephotos of Berlin, Germany Collection, 1933-1945
 
This collection of 156 gelatin silver prints was taken by syndicated press agencies including Wide World, now part of the Associated Press (AP), and International Press Photo, part of the International News Service, held by Corbis. The images feature political events, World War II scenes, and views of Berlin, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, and Cologne, Germany. Photographs document pre-war, mid-war, and post-war Germany.
 
Bombing of London During World War II Photograph Collection, 1939-1940
 
This collection consists of 143 pictures from the early 1940's that visually document the bombing of London by the Nazis known as "The Blitz." Some are dated while most are not. Images were produced by the Associated Press and Graphic Photo Union.
 
 
 

Historic Pittsburgh Snippets

Explore Historic Pittsburgh's Chronology Feature

Snippets from 1914-1945

1914 July 31
The Pittsburgh Stock Exchange suspended operations (for four months) because of the economic effects of the World War.

1915 August 1
All steel mills in Pittsburgh were operating night and day to meet steel demands of nations at war.

1917 July 20
The first draft lists were published; many Pittsburghers were destined to go overseas in the 28th and 80th divisions.

1917 July 29
The University of Pittsburgh organized a hospital unit to go overseas.

1920 January 2
A total of 233 suspected leaders of the Communist movement in Pittsburgh were arrested by federal agents in two days as part of a nationwide roundup ordered by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer.

1934 June
Hervey Allen, Pittsburgh novelist, visited in the city.

1939 September 3
Thousands of persons of all faiths, attending the county fair, joined in a peace demonstration as Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany.

1940 September 16
The Mesta Machine Company received an $8,390,000 contract for "artillery material," largest national defense order placed in the Pittsburgh district to this date.

1940 October 16
A total of 188,876 Allegheny County men registered for the nation's first peacetime draft; of that number, 89,069 were city residents.

1941 January 1
Spurred by war demands for goods, business activity in the Pittsburgh district in the closing months of 1940 equaled that of 1929, according to surveys. Steel firms were operating at 100 per cent of capacity; all mills were planning major expansion; defense contracts placed with Pittsburgh district industries totaled $75,000,000.

1943 March 11
Twenty-nine German aliens living near war plants in the Pittsburgh district were arrested.

1945 June 25
One hundred thousand persons turned out to extend a hero's welcome to 64 officers and enlisted men returning home from the war.