Even before the United States entered World War II, public libraries across the
country had been collecting materials related to the war—mainly from British
sources—for a curious public. Those efforts were redoubled after the attack on Pearl
Harbor, as the public demand for information about the war reached a fever-pitch,
and public libraries began making their war materials available in a single
centralized location: newly-minted War Information Centers. With the U.S. entry into
the war, official U.S. government publications, along with materials from citizens’
groups, civilian defense councils and social service organizations from cities and
states across the country, began pouring in and were actively collected by these War
Information Centers. Librarians would assist patrons with materials that were
available in a variety of formats, such as pamphlets, booklets, newspaper clippings,
reports, as well as providing soldier and draft information.
The Milwaukee Public Library’s War Information Center opened on 27 April 1942 and
operated out of the lobby of the Central Library. It was run by one librarian, John
Dulka, who headed the department until mid-1942 when he entered the army. After
that, Mary Wilkinson succeeded Dulka and headed the department until its
dissolution. It was also supported by a staff of 14 W.P.A. workers. The War
Information Center was charged with maintaining records on Milwaukee’s role in war
and defense efforts, answering visitors’ war-related questions, and supplying an
increasingly enquiring public with information on topics of crucial importance—the
draft and enlistment, what to do in an air raid, how to spot enemy planes, how to
defend oneself against bombs and gases—through the provision of maps, bulletins,
reports, bibliographies, and pamphlets. In fact, as noted by the Milwaukee Sentinel, Milwaukee Public Library’s War
Information Center was “the city’s only central agency for information on all
aspects of the war and civilian defense.”
