WWI Graphics on ImPAC

On the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand this June, a consortium of archival institutions in the Delaware Valley launched “Home Before the Leaves Fall:  The Great War,” a digital resource highlighting little-known primary source materials relating to World War One. Digital images and descriptions of the contributions to that effort from the Library Company’s collections of 300 unique WWI posters and over 100 photographs are now also available in our digital collections catalog online, grouped as Posters and Photographs and Ephemera.

Beginning in fall of 2013, the Library Company teamed up with several local colleges and cultural institutions including the American Philosophical Society, the Chemical Heritage Foundation, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the German Society of Pennsylvania, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Independence Seaport Museum, Swarthmore College, the Union League, and Villanova University to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the beginning of World War One by highlighting research resources in the area available for study of the war and its aftermath.

Library Company posters encouraging military recruitment, the purchase of liberty bonds, support for the Red Cross, and home front frugality and our nearly 100 photographs of the Philadelphia Navy Yard and patriotic parades and rallies held around the city were inventoried and digitized for the project through the work of project interns Rebecca Solnit and William Robinson.

Hosted by Villanova University, “Home Before the Leaves Fall” features digitized materials, including images, memoirs, diaries, and periodicals, accompanied by contextual essays, news of commemorative events, interactive data, and geographic information system (GIS) mapping. The project aims to promote the use of these materials to students, scholars, and the public, and to commemorate the services and sacrifices of soldiers and civilians a hundred years ago. Partner organizations will curate and contribute Great War content to the site through 2018.

In addition to the digitized images of our collection materials, the Library Company has contributed several blog posts providing background on this material.  To keep informed about commemorative events throughout the centenary, follow the Print Department on Twitter @LCPPrints.