Browse Items (21 total)
- Collection: The Great Depression and World War II
Pres. Truman presents Congressional Medal of Honor to Cpl. Desmond T. Doss, Photograph, 1945
Lynchburg native Desmond T. Doss (1919–2006) was the first conscientious objector to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. A conscientious objector is one who is opposed to serving in the armed forces and/or bearing arms on the grounds of moral…
Proclamation in recognition and honor of our beloved president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1945
On April 14, 1945, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was buried in Hyde Park, New York, following funeral services at the White House. Roosevelt had been elected four times to the office of president, a feat never matched, and one that is now…
John L. Wilkes of Bedford County, Personal War Service Record Photograph, 1944
On June 6, 1944, soldiers of the Allied Expeditionary Force stormed the beaches of Normandy as part of Operation Overlord, often referred to as D-Day. Approximately 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile…
View of Girls Processing a Hydraulic Bridge Erecting Crane, Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation, U.S. Army Signal Corps Photograph, 1944
World War II fundamentally altered the workforce of the United States as the nation shifted from a peacetime consumer-focused economy to one centered on war production. While industries shifted their production lines to munitions and supplies for the…
2d Lt. Alice C. Thompson, L-201903, Photograph, 1944
During World War II, the United States Army established a unit that enabled women to fill non-combat roles. Prior to the creation of this unit women mostly served as nurses supporting combat troops. In May 1941, Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers of…
Tuskegee Airmen in World War II, Photographs, ca. 1943
During World War II, Black Americans took the opportunity to point out the hypocrisy of engaging in a war effort to save democracy abroad while maintaining segregation laws at home. Spurred by the national newspaper, Chicago Defender, the Black…
Luther Porter Jackson—Highlighting Black History
The contributions of African Americans to the politics, life, and culture of the Commonwealth of Virginia have often been ignored in traditional histories and textbooks. Historian Luther Porter Jackson (1892–1950), however, researched and wrote…
This is the Enemy (No. 44), War Poster, Artists for Victory, 1943
Based in New York, N.Y., 1942-1946. Artists for Victory, Inc. was a non-profit organization of more than ten thousand artists formed to assist in the war effort. Their activities included a British-American goodwill exhibition, sponsorship of…
Can all you can. It's a real war job! WWII Poster, 1943
During World War II, the American government asked civilians to participate in the war effort. A common way for the government to communicate with civilians was through posters hung in public places. Inspirational, informative, and instructive, the…
Helps For Homemakers Booklet, ca. 1943–1945
During World War II booklets were published to assist homemakers provide for their families and meet the requirements of the wartime ration system created after the U.S. entered the war in December 1941. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive…