The World War I Collection is arranged in 74 series, which are based on the Cutter classification scheme. Series have been assigned call number spans and headings that are drawn directly from the Cutter scheme. The World War I Collection gathers materials dating from the years that include and surround the First World War. A majority of the materials is European and includes propaganda pamphlets, official documents, maps, periodicals, books, printed ephemera and newspapers, as well as manuscript letters and diaries.
The first two series (F0802 and F08024) collect periodicals, society publications, serials and newspapers in a variety of languages. Included here are tracts, newsletters, trench newspapers and more. German pamphlets include series such as Die Bestie im Weltkriege, Flugschriften des Bundes "Neues Vaterland," and Flugschriften für Österreich-Ungarns Erwachen.
Bibliographies, chronologies and geographical materials are collected in the call number range F0803-F0806. Many of the geographical materials are maps that have undergone preservation treatment and encapsulation. A number of battlefield maps from the Flemmings Kriegskarte series, Michelin illustrated battlefield guides and maps from the U.S. Army's Engineer Reproduction Plant have been collected here.
F0807 call numbers denote pictorial works, such as illustrated encyclopedias and photographs. This series, for example, includes the Grosser Bilderatlas des Weltkrieges and Collier's Photographic History of the European War. Gabriel Hanotaux's 17 volume Histoire illustrée de la guerre de 1914 and the Danish magazine Verdenskrigen i Billeder are also available in digital reproductions. This series also features 12 large (26 x 114 cm) panoramic photographs of Reims and other towns.
Official documents and biographies are gathered under the F0809 call numbers. The official documents are mainly publications of diplomatic correspondence, while the biographies are pamphlets, pamphlet series or monographs. Biographical works on Paul von Hindenburg, Marshal Foch and other leaders are featured in German, French and English.
General works are classified under the call numbers F081 and F0812. These include books such as Konstantin Hierl's Der Weltkrieg in Umrissen. Many English pamphlets are organized by author name and include works by William Archer, David Lloyd George and Herbert Henry Asquith.
All of the manuscript materials in the World War I Collection are classified in the F0813 call number range. These materials include letters, diaries and other documents of soldiers in the German military. A German officer's photo album features photographs of France, Serbia and Germany during the war.
Materials that discuss events preceding the war are collected in the series numbered F0814-F0817. Fifty pamphlets and paperback books cover subjects such as the causes and origins of the war, political forecasts, prophecies, religious interpretations and the outbreak of fighting. Related subjects include the role of the papacy, secret diplomacy, the Austro-Serbian conflict and labor's relation to the war. Many of these items are English and American publications.
Call numbers falling between F0821-F0839 indicate military operations, strategies and special topics. Publications discussing the armed forces of Germany, France, the United States, Poland, Serbia, Italy and other nations are gathered here in a number of series. Some materials describe military operations in Belgium, France and Italy, as well as visits to the fronts. Of particular note is a text by Mussolini in which he underscores the Italian effort on behalf of the Allies in World War I. More specific subjects include American military engineers, the Middle East and German colonialism. Aerial and naval operations are classified in the five series labeled F0843-F0856. Allied aerial operations like the Royal Flying Corps are discussed in English and French publications. A number of pamphlets consider British, Italian and German naval operations. Some of these items explain the British blockade and other economic measures. 15 publications from England, Germany and Italy provide varying viewpoints on the German U-boat (submarine) attacks, with pamphlets discussing the sinking of ships such as the Lusitania.
General works concerning specific countries are classified between call numbers F086 and F0876. Germany and Turkey, Bulgaria and Hungary are grouped under the number F086, while Allied nations and neutral countries are collected under F087. The subjects covered in these series are wide ranging and diverse. Many of the pamphlets and books concerning Germany are primarily German language texts, although English and Danish are also present. Both pro- and anti-German opinions and propaganda are represented. Allied countries are numerous and include the United States, Great Britain and its colonies (including Ireland, Canada and India), Belgium, France, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Poland, Serbia and Czechoslovakia.
Peace efforts during the war (F08784) are documented in pamphlets, newspaper clippings and conference reports. Associations such as the Woman's Peace Party and Si Vis Pacem, Para Pacem published materials to encourage and prepare for the end of fighting. This series also includes 29 publications of the Union of Democratic Control, an anti-war party founded by Charles Trevelyan and others which grew to over 300,000 members by 1915. Among the UDC's many well-known authors were E.D. Morel, Bertrand Russell and Arthur Ponsonby. [For more materials concerning the peace see the series F0893-F0894]
Wartime atrocities, deportations and prison issues (F08786-F08789) became increasingly important subjects for nationalist organizations such as the Serbian Press Bureau and for authors like Arnold J. Toynbee. Many pamphet publications discuss atrocities and brutality perpetrated by the German and Turkish militaries against France, Belgium and Armenia. Some of these items take the form of "first hand accounts," while others are the publications of governmental bodies or relief organizations. Deportation publications are mainly concerned with forced labor occurrences in Belgium. German and Allied prisoners of war and their confinement in prisons in Europe, Africa and India are discussed in pamphlets from governmental, diplomatic and relief agencies.
The welfare of soldiers (F0879) is heavily represented in this collection by materials from charitable organizations and religious groups. The publications of the Young Men's Christian Association (Y.M.C.A.) and the Young Women's Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.), collected under the call numbers F08792 and F08793, range from newsletters to pamphlet series. Christian groups such as the Religious Tract Society and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (S.P.C.K.) published pamphlets, booklets and leaflets for evangelism, a number of which are collected here in the series numbered F08796. The items from Religious Tract Society are present in at least 25 languages, from German and Dutch to Tamil and Urdu. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge published handbooks for military chaplains and other materials.
The published materials generated by relief efforts (F088-F0884) constitute a large part of the collection. The Red Cross and other hospital services produced printed matter to raise funds for field hospitals and ambulances. The materials of relief charities include pamphlets, fundraising publications, posters and more, which were printed in order to raise funds for the refugee crisis during and after the war. A great number of items represent efforts to assist Armenian, Belgian and Jewish refugees. Most of the charitable institutions and organizations were American, such as the American Friends Service Committee and the American Jewish Relief Committee for Sufferers from the War. Some organizations, such as the Fatherless Children of France, focused on aiding children and orphans in Europe. Many items from the American charity Near East Relief discuss conditions in Armenia, Syria and parts of the Middle East. Efforts in Poland, Romania, Serbia and other countries are also documented by pamphlets and other printed materials.
Other aspects of the war, such as economic, religious and ethical matters, and censorship and propaganda issues are grouped in the call number span F0886-F08892. War loans, credit and the economics of trade are debated in publications from various vantages in English, German and French. The examination and confiscation of items in the mails was an important and controversial topic. A collection of propaganda leaflets dropped by U.S. Expeditionary Forces during the war is housed here as well.
The arts, including humor, poetry and the visual arts, are collected in the series numbered F08894-F08897. The lighter side of life during the war is depicted in cartoons and caricatures (F08894), most notably Bruce Bairnsfather's military cartoons in The Bystander's Fragments from France. Poems and songs (F08896), including broadsides, embody nationalism from both German and Allied perspectives. Commemorations of the war from monument building to celebrations were documented in pamphlets and booklets (F08897). Six rare engraved stamps by Lodewijk Schelfhout, printed in Amsterdam, commemorate the tragedy of the war.
The roles played in the war by the Catholic Church, various intellectual groups and women are discussed in three series, F089 .C28, F089 .IN8-.S7 and F089 .W. The six pamphlets concerning the Catholic Church vary in viewpoint, and cover wide subjects such as the Vatican, diplomacy and Catholic army chaplains. Intellectual views of the war were published by colleges and universities, professors and others. Belief systems and philosophies were brought to bear upon the war itself; included in this series are a number of pamphlets from Socialist parties that discuss socialism in Germany, France, Czechslovakia, Greece and elsewhere. The publications regarding women's work in the war focus on industry in the United States, England and France.
Authors disagreed on the effectiveness of the peace and post-war treaties (F0893 – F0894). Most of the publications collected here are English, French and American, but they often demonstrate differing opinions. An often discussed topic was the formation of a worldwide congress, eventually called the League of Nations. Treaties such as the Treaty of Versailles were hotly debated, as was the topic of "secret treaties." A number of pamphlets warn of future wars and urge preventative measures.
Questions, claims and disputes over territories and treaties were debated both during and after the war (F0895-F0902). Pamphlets, newsletters and other publications are concerned with the status of European regions such as the Ruhr, the Rhine and the South Tyrol, among many others. A number of publications from Chinese-American organizations such as the Chinese Patriotic Committee discuss the relationship between Japan and China.
The final category includes miscellaneous items such as maps, illustrated books and German pamphlets. Of note is the index to German newspapers from the World War I years, compiled by Professor Chester Easum and noted on index cards and paper slips.
In Brief:
F0802: Periodicals, society publications and monograph serials.
F08024: Newspapers.
F0803: Bibliographies.
F0804: Chronologies.
F0806: Atlases, maps and general geographical materials.
F0807: Pictorial works, views, scrapbooks.
F0809: Sources and Official Documents.
F08091-92: Biography.
F081: General, comprehensive and systematic works.
F0812: Miscellaneous writings of an individual author.
F0813: Manuscripts, letters and personal narratives of the war.
F0814: Causes and origins of the war; political forecasts.
F0815: Prophecies.
F0817: Outbreak and events preceding the war.
F0821- F08215: Army organization/strategy.
F08218 .EN: Military engineers.
F0823: German Operations.
F0824: Allied Operations.
F08245: Operations in Belgium.
F0826: Operations in France.
F0828: Americans in France.
F0833: Italian Front.
F083563: Serbian Army.
F0836- F08366: Turkish and Middle Eastern Topics.
F0839: German Colonialism.
F0843: Allied aerial operations.
F0845-F0848: British naval operations.
F0849: Special naval battles.
F0853: Italian naval operations in the East.
F08564-F08565: German submarine operations.
F086 .A6: Hungary – General works.
F086 .B8: Bulgaria – General works.
F086 .G3: Germany – General works.
F086 .T8: Turkey – General works.
F087 .A: Allies – General works.
F087 .B: Belgium – General works.
F087 .F: France – General works.
F087 .G: Great Britain – General works.
F087 .G6-.G8: British Colonies (Ireland & Canada) – General works.
F087 .G83: India – General works.
F087 .I: Italy – General works.
F087 .J: Japan – General works.
F087 .P: Portugal – General works.
F087 .R: Romania – General works.
F087 .R9: Russia – General works.
F087 .R95: Poland – General works.
F087 .S3: Serbia – General works.
F0874 .C: Czechoslovakia – General works.
F0874 .J3: The Jews.
F0874 .J8: Jugo-Slavs (Yugoslavia; Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, etc.) – General works.
F0876: Neutral countries – General works.
F08784: Peace efforts during the war.
F08786: Atrocities and wanton destruction.
F08787: Deportations.
F08789: Prisons and prisoners, alien enemies, expatriates, etc.
F0879: General welfare for the soldier.
F08792-93: YMCA and YWCA.
F08796: Religious pamphlets and cultural broadsheets.
F088: The Red Cross and other hospital services.
F0884: Relief work.
F0886- F08864: Economic aspects of the war.
F0888: Ethical and religious aspects.
F0889: Press and Censorship.
F08894: Humor, caricature and cartoons.
F08896: Gift books, poems, songs and stories.
F08897: Celebrations, commemorations, monuments, etc.
F089 .C28: The Catholic Church.
F089 .IN8-.S7: Intellectual Relations.
F089 .W: Women and their work in the war.
F0893-F0894: The Peace and Treaties.
F08944: Trials.
F0895-F0902: Territories questions, claims and other topics.
AP-MS. Further items.
