University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The items in the Digital Collections of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library contain materials which represent or depict sensitive topics or were written from perspectives using outdated or biased language. The Library condemns discrimination and hatred on any grounds. As a research library that supports the mission and values of this land grant institution, it is incumbent upon the University Library to preserve, describe, and provide access to materials to accurately document our past, support learning about it, and effect change in the present. In accordance with the American Library Association’s Freedom to Read statement, we do not censor our materials or prevent patrons from accessing them.

If you have questions regarding this statement or any content in the Library’s digital collections, please contact digitalcollections@lists.illinois.edu

American Library Association’s Freedom to Read Statement

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility at the University Library
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Showing 1–40 of 358,792 items
  • World War I Maps
    Map Library  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    The World War I maps collection contains maps and atlases published shortly before, during, and after World War I. The maps included cover all areas of the world showing the course of the war and its economic, political, and social contexts. Types of maps encompass propaganda maps, trench maps and other maps of battles and fronts, ethnographic and economic maps, maps and atlases for citizens at home, and maps created to support work of the United States delegation to the Paris Peace Conference. Please contact the Map Library with questions regarding these items via e-mail at charts@library.illinois.edu or by calling 217-333-0827.
  • World War II National Defense Subject File (Digital Surrogates)
    American Library Association Archives  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    Digital surrogates of World War II National Defense Subject Files of Carl Milam including correspondence on book drives (1941) and campaigns (1942-45); camp libraries (1940-41); U.S. government documents (1942-43); ALA committee activities; national defense activities of libraries in 29 states (1940-41); Japanese Relocation Centers (1943); U.S. Office of Education (1941); devastated libraries (1940-45); Office of War Information (1943-44); Surveys of Public and University Library needs (1941), and destruction of National Socialist literature by the Allies in 1946 and protests against such destruction.
  • American Empire Maps
    Map Library  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    The United States was an established world presence by the early 20th century. The nation was the world’s leading agricultural producer, dominated world markets for petroleum products, was the world’s largest producer of steel, and had not only expanded across the North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific but also had administrative control over remote territories. This collection spans the period immediately before and after the turn of the century, approximately 1890-1910. It includes maps showing events such as the Spanish-American War and United States territorial acquisitions at the end of the war, world fairs, and the Klondike Gold Rush. Please contact the Map Library regarding these items via e-mail at charts@library.illinois.edu or by calling 217-333-0827.
  • French World War I Posters
    University of Illinois Archives  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    This collection is comprised of 105 digitized posters published in France during the First World War. The selected posters represent a time of national volatility and a visual culture of lithography, illustrations, earlier posters and paintings.
  • Oscar V. Seed Papers (Digital Surrogates)
    University of Illinois Archives  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    Digital Surrogates of the Oscar V. Seed Papers includes Seed's accounts of a trip to Europe on a cattle boat in 1910, his World War I experiences at Fort Sheridan and Chateau Thierry, and his entry into the University of Illinois academy in 1907 through to his enlistment into the Army for service in World War I.
  • Rose Oltusky Edelson Papers (Digital Surrogates)
    University of Illinois Archives  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    Papers of Rose Oltusky Edelson (AB LAS 1922) include artifacts, books, correspondence, dance cards, a flapper dress, jewelry, newsclippings, photographs, programs, publications, and sheet music from both her time as a student and her life after relating to A Century of Progress (the 1933 Chicago World Fair), Alpha Epsilon Phi, Alumnae News, Campus Scout, Chicago politics, commencement, Daily Illini, Follies, Illinois loyalty pledges, Jane Addams memorial, Memorial Stadium, Mortar Board, National Council of Jewish Women, Press Club Riot, Roosevelt College, ROTC, World War I, World War II, and the Young Women's Patriotic League. Notably, Oltusky wrote the music for "Fight Illini! The Stadium Song" and her papers include a number of manuscript copies and published editions of the work.
  • 1920s Maps
    Map Library  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    The 1920s were a decade of change. Technology was changing rapidly – automobiles became more common, buildings in city centers were taller, radio made faraway places seem closer. In the United States, the last of the American troops returned after serving during the First World War; for a short while, the production and sales of alcohol was prohibited; and women voted in a national election for the first time. The events of the First World War had created distance from the nineteenth century, and the United States was looking forward toward the future. Society in the United States was changing – more women were working outside of their homes and more people lived in cities than in the countryside. But with all these advancements, many reflected in the phrase “the Roaring 20s,” there was also a dark side to the decade filled with social unrest, nativism, and racism. The maps in this collection reflect the trends and mores of the times. Please contact the Map Library regarding these items via e-mail at charts@library.illinois.edu or by calling 217-333-0827.
  • Carl H. Milam's American Library in Paris Correspondence (Digital Surrogates)
    American Library Association Archives  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    Correspondence files of ALA Executive Secretary Carl H. Milam concerning the American Library in Paris. The correspondence covers the period from two years after ALP's incorporation in 1920 through World War II and concerns plans, goals, projects and activities of ALP, financial status and budgets, selection and evaluation of ALP staff and trustees, the monthly literary review Ex Libris (inaugurated in 1923), the Reference Service on International Affairs, the Paris Library School and the Service to Soliders during World War II. Principal correspondents are ALP directors W. Dawson Johnston (1922-25), Burton Stevenson (1926-30), Robert Davis (1931- 34), Helen Latrap (1935) and Dorothy M. Reeder (1936-41); chairmen of the American Committee for the ALP Henry N. MacCracken (1923-24) and Earle B. Babcock (1924); president of the trustees Edward A. Sumner (1939-45) and other members of the Board of Trustees.
  • Edwin C. Rae Papers (Digital Surrogates)
    University of Illinois Archives  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    Edwin C. Rae Papers (Digital Surrogates), 1945-1947, 1958, contains digitized pictures, albums, correspondence, certificates, catalogs, reports, and magazines related with the restoration and preservation of art and architecture pieces in Germany after World War II. Materials are related with distinctions received by Mr. Edwin C. Rae for his important contribution as Chief of Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section, at the Office of Military Government for Bavaria (Germany). Edwin C. Rae was an American specialist at Central Collecting Point, a depot used by the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program after the end of the Second World War. Materials also include a digitized copy of of Heute, a specialized illustrated art magazine (Number 9, April 1946); a handwritten music sheet; a handwritten diary, entitled "Moments, Fine Arts and Archives Work, Diary" (1945-1947, 1958) and a handwritten note with a food listings entitled "Train Special, 22. XII. 45, Wein - Budapest".
  • Mary E. Ahern Papers (Digital Surrogates)
    American Library Association Archives  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    Papers of Mary Eileen Ahern, contains correspondence about ALA meetings and activities before her service to ALA during World War I (1893, 1897, 1905-1916), preliminary correspondence about libraries and the war and private correspondence (1917-1918), correspondence concerning her ALA War Service to American soldiers in France by providing library services to them (1919), private correspondence (1920-21, 1924), and undated correspondence, postcards and photographs.
  • Third Armored Division Association Records (Digital Surrogates)
    University of Illinois Archives  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    Digital Surrogates from the Third Armored Division Association Records (1941 - 1945, 1993) contain digitized copies of log books, pictures, newsletters, newspaper clippings and newspapers' typewritten transcriptions, concerning the 3rd Armored Division's history, members, military campaigns and accomplishments, recreational activities, and cartoons about soldier's daily situations. Digitized newsletters include the 36th Armored Infantry Regiment's Spearhead newsletter and the 3rd Armored Division's The Ozark Red newsletter. Digitized pictures show the 32nd Regiment D Company and personal files of veterans Lee Garrett (member of the First Battalion, 32nd Armored Regiment) and Hanford Counts (of the 33rd Armored Regiment). Materials also contain excerpts from Anthony Hufnagel's Oral History about World War II training and combat. In 2023, the 3rd Armored Division Association Archives received a donation of over 800 digitized photos from Jim Grimes. Most, if not all, of the photos were taken by or feature his father, John S. Grimes (1916-2006), when he was a sergeant in the 3rd Armored during World War II. Subjects include training, visits home, and the Battle of the Bulge. Additional digitized material is available upon request, containing digitized after action reports; Periodic reports; Battalion operation journals; war diaries; narrative reports; and typewritten historic reports, related with operations of the 3rd Armored Division, the 32nd and 33rd Armored Regiments, the 486th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion, and the 703rd Tank Destroyer Battalion. Digitized materials include articles and memoirs of John T Jones about the Paderborn battle (March 29th - April 3rd 1945); a history of the 143rd Armored Signal Company; the "History of the 36th Armored Infantry Regiment. 3rd Armored division" by Haynes W. Dugan, covering the years 1941-1945; the report "The battle of Mons. 1- 4 September 1944", by 1st Lt Fred L Hadsel; and oversized maps of Germany and Central Europe. Most documents were originally marked as classified in 1945 and then were marked as declassified in 1973 and 1989. Digitized materials also include a series of handwritten personal correspondence, pictures, and clippings of Veteran Melvin Lieurance. Digital surrogates of audiovisual materials are also available upon request. These materials include digitized video recordings concerning activities and journeys of the 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 9th Infantry Division, First Army (1945); 3rd Armored Division, Rocket Barrage and Attack Push Off; Mausbach, Germany (Nov. 15, 1944); 3rd Armored Division, Tank Air Support (Nov. 1944); Third Armored Division in Europe (1944-45); Lafayette G. Pool Hall Dedication, Fort Knox, KY (July 1, 1993); digitized audio recording of Ted Malone's Westinghouse Radio Overseas Broadcast in France (July 14, 1944); digitized oral history interviews.
  • James W. Snively Papers (Digital Surrogates)
    University of Illinois Archives  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    Digital surrogates (scans) of portions of the James W. Snively papers. Primary topics are Snively's experiences during the Second World War, including training in the United States, fighting in Italy, and time as a prisoner of war in Germany. Also includes letters sent from his father, John R. Snively, that detailed life in wartime Rockford, IL and the goings-on of the Snively family in the United States. Of particular note are programs from plays staged by Allied POWs while in captivity, and letters sent to and from James Snively while he was imprisoned.
  • Faculty Reports (Digital Surrogates)
    University of Illinois Archives  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    Digital Surrogates from Faculty Reports of the College of Engineering (1918-1927), include copies of correspondence, course schedules, and minutes concerning proposed revisions to the curriculum, such as the addition of courses pertaining to war issues during World War I; faculty committees; student enrollment statistics; special events and lectures, including efforts to invite the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education to the University of Illinois (1919-1920); the implementation of an engineering aptitude test for college freshman in order to better shape students' course selections (1919); and new faculty at the college.
  • Library Vertical Files (Digital Surrogates)
    American Library Association Archives  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    Digital surrogates of Vertical Files established by the Library for reference use containing material on ALA organization, constitution and bylaws (1914-51, 1971), elections and officers, membership, publicity (1876-1954), Council (1947-80), Executive Board (1960-79), publishing (1967-79), committees, round tables, boards and divisions and sections. The files include folders on meetings (1952-62), War Service during World Wars I and II, bibliography committee (1924-35), Reading Habits Study (1927-29), international relations, (1941-69), Books for Latin America Project (1942-45), Adult Education Survey and Grant Evaluation (1952-58), Financial Status of Publications Survey (1930), committee reports (1925-80), Wayne A. Wiegand's article The Wayward Bookman about K. August Linderfelt and related reproduced documents, awards (1924-80), headquarters administrative memoranda (1954-69), travel reports (1958-62), copies of articles by Carl Milam (1959-65) and the Freedom to Read Foundation (1969-90), organizational anniversaries, annual reports of the ALA (1973-97), election returns (1953-88), copies of the ALA Constitution (1889-78); a subject file on library topics; historical documents; National Library Week materials (1949-1983); project files; conference materials; and Council of National Library Associations (CNLA) minutes and proceedings (1941-1968).
  • World War I Sheet Music from the James Francis Driscoll Collection of American Sheet Music
    Sousa Archives and Center for American Music  ·   Digital Special Collections
  • Motley Collection of Theatre and Costume Design
    Rare Book & Manuscript Library  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    The Motley Collection of Theatre and Costume Design is a valuable source of documentation on the history of theatre and is housed in The Rare Book and Manuscript Library. It is a rare collection of original materials on the theatre comprising over 5000 items from more than 150 productions in England and the United States. These materials include costume and set designs, sketches, notes, photographs, prop lists, storyboards, and swatches of fabric. The Motley Group consisted of Margaret Harris, her sister Sophia Harris, and Elizabeth Montgomery, who designed sets and costumes from 1932 to 1976 for plays by Shakespeare and modern classics, opera, ballet, and motion pictures. Their designs were used in productions in the West End of London, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the English National Opera, and in the United States on Broadway and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Their first work was for a 1932 production of Romeo and Juliet directed by John Gielgud. The Motley Group was highly innovative in designing sets and costumes that suggested the mood, architecture, and styles of the original setting of the play, but was not the rote duplication that had been done so many times before. They wanted to create an atmosphere that was artistic, in addition to having an air of authenticity. Motley set the standard for how Shakespearean productions should be staged. The Group's work diversified in 1940 when Margaret Harris and Elizabeth Montgomery went to New York to design a production for Laurence Olivier and had to remain there for the duration of World War II, while Sophia Harris worked in London. After the war Margaret Harris returned to London and Elizabeth Montgomery stayed in New York, where she designed the costumes for numerous Broadway musicals, as well as plays, ballets, and operas. After the members of the Motley Group had retired, Michael Mullin, a professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, met Margaret Harris and expressed an interest in the University acquiring the over 40 years worth of designs that the group had accumulated. After long negotiations with Sotheby's, who had been contracted to auction the items, the University of Illinois finally reached an agreement in April, 1981, to purchase the entire collection. This ensured that a valuable resource on the history of 20th century theatre would be preserved intact for the benefit of future generations. For more information, visit the Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
  • Gold Star Illini Book (Digital Surrogates)
    University of Illinois Archives  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    Digital Surrogates of the Gold Star Illini Book include index card of former student killed during World War II.
  • Anthony J. Janata Papers (Digital Surrogates)
    University of Illinois Archives  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    Papers of Anthony J. Janata, executive secretary (1921-23) and assistant to the president (1923-66) and secretary of the Board of Trustees (1950-66), contain tape recorded recollections, correspondence, photographs, manuscripts and publications related to University Hall, literary societies, David Kinley, Harry W. Chase, College of Fine and Applied Arts, the president's house, Arthur H. Daniels, Arthur C. Willard, the Illini Union, Galesburg and Navy Pier, World War II programs, dormitories, Lloyd Morey, financing the building program and the functions of the Board of Trustees.
  • James Edward Myers World War I Sheet Music Collection
    Sousa Archives and Center for American Music  ·   Digital Special Collections
  • Paul V.B. Jones Papers (Digital Surrogates)
    University of Illinois Archives  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    Paul V.B. Jones Papers (Digital Surrogates) includes correspondence between Paul Van Brunt Jones, Mariato Jones, Paul Haller Jones relating to social life, travels in America and abroad, progress on artwork, World War II.
  • History of Housing (Digital Surrogates)
    University of Illinois Archives  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    Digital Surrogate of "History of Housing Owned and Operated by the University of Illinois in its First 100 Years", by Calvin S. Sifferd, including sections on men's, women's, church and "Y", and cooperative housing. Other sections deal with World Wars I and II, temporary housing and the formation of the Housing Division. The series includes a copy of the pictorial centennial housing brochure.
  • Chuck Olin Digital Film Archive
    History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    The Chuck Olin Digital Film Archive consists of production elements from two PBS-broadcast documentaries: "In Our Own Hands: The Hidden Story of the Jewish Brigade in World War II," and "Is Jerusalem Burning? Myth, Memory and the Battle of Latrun." Both films, relying primarily on first-person accounts, tell the story of critical episodes in the formation of the nation-state of Israel. The unedited versions of the first-person accounts contained in the collection offer the student or scholar a unique set of primary-source material. Collection size: 8 interviews. BibID: 5791425
  • Modern and Contemporary Art from the Jonathan Fineberg Collection
    Ricker Library of Architecture and Art  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Description
    This collection contains approximately 1,500 images of post World War Two art from the archives of Jonathan Fineberg. Fineberg amassed a large personal collection of slides, predominantly in European and American art since 1850 but also including a broad range of other interests including child art, African art, architecture and pre 1850 European art. The University Library made a small selection for ARTstor consisting of original slides taken in certain artists' studios and on several of the major temporary projects of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Jonathan Fineberg is Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor of Art History Emeritus at the University of Illinois, Urbana and Trustee Emeritus at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. where he was founding director of the Center for the Study of Modern Art. www.jonathanfineberg.com He received his B.A. (1967) and Ph.D. (1975) from Harvard University and an M.A. from the Courtauld Institute of Art (1969) and studied psychoanalysis at the Boston and Western New England Psychoanalytic Institutes (1970-75, 1979-81). He received the College Art Association's Award for Distinguished Teaching in the History of Art in 2001. He created the 2 hour PBS documentary Imagining America: Icons of 20th Century American Art (with John Carlin) and his major books include: Art Since 1940: Strategies of Being (Prentice-Hall 2010), The Innocent Eye: Children's Art and the Modern Artist (Princeton 1997), Christo and Jeanne-Claude: On the Way to the Gates (Yale and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004), Imagining America: Icons of 20th Century American Art (with John Carlin, Yale 2005), When We Were Young: New Perspectives on the Art of the Child (University of California Press, 2006); Alice Aycock: Drawings, Some Stories Are Worth Repeating (Yale, 2013); and A TroubIesome Subject: The Art of Robert Arneson (University of California Press, 2013). Forthcoming in 2014: Disquieting Memories: The Art of Zhang Xiaogang (Phaidon) and The Language of the Enigmatic Object: Modern Art at the Border of Mind and Brain - The Nebraska Presidential Lectures (University of Nebraska Press).
  • What Caused the First World War?: A dyadic approach to explaining the outbreak of the war in light of the rivalry...
    Scholarship
    Creator
    Muthukrishnan, Moksha
    Description
    This study analyzes the outbreak of the First World War in terms of the dyadic relationship between the two rival countries of Austria-Hungary and Russia. It poses the specific question: How did World War I come about, and why did these two countries declare war on each other in the first place? It also analyzes whether war, from this perspective, could have been avoided. The main thesis argues that while Austria-Hungary and Russia had a fluctuating relationship over a long-span of time, in the years leading up to the First World War, their rivalry and the outbreak of the war can be best explained through, not only their personal grievances, but their personal grievances coupled with whom they happened to align or misalign themselves with at the time. This, in turn, helps to understand that the war, in terms of this dyad, could have been avoided.
  • Bajo la zarpa británica : breve historia del militarismo inglés
    World War I Maps  ·   Digital Special Collections
    Creator
    Haase, F.
    Date
    1918
    Description
    Likely published in Spain.
  • Ithacan, 25 May 2002 - Page 15
    Digitized Newspapers
    Date
    2002