Preparing for an Air Attack: Libraries and American Air Raid Defense during World War IIAuthor(s): Brett SpencerSource: Libraries & the Cultural Record, Vol. 43, No. 2 (2008), pp. 125-147Published by: University of Texas PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25549472 .
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Preparing for an Air Attack: Libraries and
American Air Raid Defense during World War II
Brett Spencer
Libraries vigorously participated in American air raid defense during World War II. Contemporary newspaper and trade journal reports as
well as organizational and government documents attest to libraries' ac
tivities in air defense during the global conflict of the 1940s. Librarians
safeguarded America's cultural treasures, built and organized collections
of air raid survival materials, disseminated air defense information, and
offered library buildings as civil defense meeting places and bomb shelters.
In tailoring services to their patrons' needs, libraries strengthened their
position in their communities, earned positive publicity for their work,
and broadened the base of library support. Their work earned recognition for the profession and called attention to the value of community-based
library services.
During the early days of World War II, when the United States faced
the possibility of an air attack, libraries vigorously participated in civil
defense in response to this threat, offering services and resources to
prepare for and reduce the destructiveness of air disasters. The story of
libraries in World War II shows that libraries played important roles in
American civil defense. Librarians demonstrated great resilience and
thoroughness in safeguarding the nation's cultural resources during
the global conflict of the 1940s. They innovatively and effectively found
ways to utilize their collection, cataloging, and reference skills to sup
port community civil defense preparations, forming partnerships with
civil defense groups at both local and national levels. Indeed, in many communities librarians transformed themselves and thereby joined in the front line of the civil defense system. In many ways, civil defense
mobilization helped libraries enhance their services. They became
community centers of vital information, compiling reading materials on preparedness and a wide range of wartime information for civilians.
In doing so, they garnered the attention and newfound respect and
support of their local communities.
Although no large-scale air attack on the United States ever occurred to test their civil defense measures, librarians' efforts to safeguard their
Libraries & the Cultural Record, Vol. 43, No. 2, 2008 ?2008 by the University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819
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126 L&CR/Preparing for an Air Attack
collections and communities are nevertheless an important aspect of
the story of library work during World War II. Many general works on
American civil defense and the home front during the war, however, leave out libraries altogether. Those that do include the work of librar
ies note the roles that libraries played in the war effort other than air
defense. These sources point
out that libraries conducted drives to pro
vide overseas troops with books through the Victory Books campaign, stocked military base libraries, supplied defense workers with techni
cal materials, waged an ideological war against fascism, contributed
to public morale by offering recreational reading materials, helped educate the public about the war's goals, and aided preparations for
the postwar world.1
Since 1990 historians have begun to shed greater light on libraries
and the war. In Books and Libraries in American Society during World War II:
Weapons in the War of Ideas Patti Clayton Becker highlights the immense
challenges that public libraries faced and reexamines the nature and
uneven success of many wartime activities, such as carrying
out book
drives for troops, helping government propaganda campaigns, and of
fering novels that provided an escape from the war. Although Becker
includes a few paragraphs about the initial attempts of libraries to defend
their collections and patrons against an attack from the air, she focuses
most of her attention on other roles.2
Other recent works suggest that interest in libraries and World War II
is growing. However, they too have concentrated on
library war efforts
other than civil defense. One article has revealed that American librar
ians not only furnished reading materials to American military person nel fighting overseas but also delivered many books to the Americans
detained in Axis prisoner of war camps.3 The Library History Seminar
XI in 2005 featured several papers on libraries and World War II, in
cluding Kathy Peiss's keynote presentation, "Cultural Policy in a Time
of War: The American Response to Endangered Libraries, 1939-1946,"
which traced the role of the U.S. government and American librarians in
protecting European libraries from destruction during the conflict.4
Largely unrecognized has been American librarians' role in help
ing the United States prepare for an Axis air attack on its homeland.
Specifically, libraries helped with air defense by safeguarding America's
information resources and cultural treasures, building and organiz
ing collections of air raid survival materials, disseminating air defense
information through reference and outreach services, and offer
ing library buildings themselves as civil defense meeting places and
bomb shelters.
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127
Americans Respond to the Threat of Attack
Civilians have taken part in the nation's defense since the country's birth. During the Revolutionary War, frontier campaigns, the War of
1812, and the Civil War American civilians took precautions to protect themselves and their neighbors from attacking forces. Some citizens and
businesses undertook basic civil defense preparations during World War
I, but modern civil defense emerged during World War II, when the
country first faced the threat of an air attack.5 Improvements in aircraft
technology enabled planes to travel longer distances than ever before.
In recognizing the new capabilities of aviation technology, some military thinkers of the day advocated all-out attacks on cities as an effective
way of waging war, giving further credence to American concerns.6 The
Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which had formerly served as impass able moats against potential attackers, no longer seemed to offer as
much security. In 1937 Charles Lindbergh articulated the new threat
to America in the Air Corps Newsletter and even emphasized the peril to the nation's treasured libraries. "Our libraries, our museums?
every institution which we value most, is laid bare to bombardment,"
Lindbergh warned.7
Fears grew as World War II formally began in Europe on September 1, 1939. As the war progressed, Nazi planes spread destruction and terror
in cities like Warsaw, Rotterdam, and London. Many Americans feared
that it was only a matter of time before the war engulfed the United
States. Accordingly, discussions of war and defense issues appeared
prominently on the agendas of many library conferences in 1940.8 When Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941,
forcing the United States into the conflict, Americans felt even more
vulnerable, especially since many had thought that Pearl Harbor lay outside the range of enemy forces. Americans reacted by preparing plans to black out cities, constructing bomb shelters, mastering firefight ing techniques, learning how to defuse unexploded bombs, training themselves in first aid, and camouflaging potential targets. Librarians
would aid these civil defense preparations, which reached a frenzied climax in the United States in 1942-43.
In an almost forgotten chapter of the war the Axis powers actually succeeded to a minor extent in dropping explosives on America, and
they formulated plans to bombard America on a much larger scale.
Throughout the war the Japanese military released hundreds of balloon bombs that drifted across the Pacific to the American mainland, killing at least six civilians in Oregon.9 In September 1942 ajapanese seaplane,
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128 L&CR/Preparing for an Air Attack
launched from a submarine, dropped incendiaries on Oregon in an
unsuccessful effort to ignite forest fires that would threaten cities.10
Other Japanese plans, sometimes approved but not executed, involved
bombing Los Angeles and the Texas oil fields.11 At one point the Ital
ian military had plans to airdrop torpedoes into New York harbor.12
For their part, the Germans mapped bombing runs against the United
States and tested prototypes of an "Amerika Bomber" that allegedly flew
within a few miles of the American coast.13 German scientists also drafted
blueprints for a ballistic missile, the A10, with the potential to strike
American cities on the Atlantic seaboard.14 However, the Allies defeated
Germany before any of these programs could be fully developed.
Efforts to Protect Collections
The most obvious way that American librarians and their allies could
play a part in the air defense campaign was to ensure the survival of
their own collections and those of other institutions against bombard
ment. Fortunately, President Franklin Roosevelt recognized the aerial
threat to the nation's libraries long before America entered the war.
After reading a warning speech given by the president of the Society of
American Archivists in 1936, Roosevelt agreed that the nation should
study ways to safeguard
its information resources and cultural treasures
(Roosevelt was himself a member of the society.) As early as March
1941, at the request of the FDR administration, the Committee on the
Conservation of Cultural Resources began planning for the protection of library, archives, gallery, and museum collections from bombing. This
group of library leaders included the archivist of the United States, the
director of the National Gallery of Art, the director of the American As
sociation of Museums, the director of the New York Public Library, the
associate director of the Smithsonian Institution, and a representative
of the American Library Association. When the committee inquired about the level of threat to the nation's collections, the War Depart
ment advised the committee that an air attack on American cities was
"likely."15 In response, the committee issued The Protection of Cultural
Resources against the Hazards of War, a booklet that supplied instructions
to libraries about safeguarding their collections. The committee encour
aged libraries to draft written disaster plans and to collaborate with local
civil defense agencies in creating these plans. Suggested strategies of
protection included evacuating materials to safer areas of the country,
evacuating materials to safer areas within the library, strengthening li
brary buildings, forming in-house squads that could combat the effects
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129
of bombs, and microfilming important materials. In deciding upon a
strategy, libraries would have to balance preservation with their patrons' wartime needs for the library materials. Also, the committee charged librarians with aiding churches, businesses, municipal governments, and private individuals in developing strategies to protect their special collections.16 Guided by the committee's national leadership, individual
libraries across the country prepared to safeguard the nation's collec
tions. A few examples illustrate their protective measures.
The Library of Congress held one of the nation's most extensive and irreplaceable collections, and some librarians feared that an air
assault could destroy the building. The burning of the library during the War of 1812 and the horrific stories of Nazi raids on British libraries in 1940-41 spurred the library into urgent preparations in the months
before American involvement in World War II. Accordingly, the library adapted a formal plan, the first step of which was to prioritize its col lection. In a testimony to the dedication of the staff, more than seven
hundred employees worked ten thousand hours of overtime with no
pay to identify and prepare the most valuable materials for emergency relocation. They methodically sorted more than six hundred thousand books by carting them to and from a processing unit, where books slated
for evacuation were labeled with red-and-white disks. In its planning the Library of Congress benefited by adapting library preservation
techniques developed by the British Museum and the Louvre to defend
against Nazi bombing campaigns.17 After Pearl Harbor the Library of Congress at first hoped to build a
nearby bomb shelter to house the relocated materials, but the urgency of
the war forced consideration of existing structures at remote locations.
In a noble and collegial spirit, librarians at the University of Virginia, Denison University, Washington and Lee University, and the Virginia Military Institute offered spaces in their library buildings. The Library of Congress thus made plans to ship its documentary cargo to these safe harbors. Library of Congress staff systematically organized the cases
containing the collections in preparing for a move unprecedented in American library history. In a Herculean effort, working through nights and severe weather, the library staff loaded and convoyed more than four thousand crates of documents, then unpacked them at their tem
porary homes. Not only physically demanding, the operation required the utmost care to avoid disturbing the order of the materials. After the
move sentries took up posts at each of the temporary repositories. In
reporting on the move to President Roosevelt, one official remarked that the Library of Congress staff had received "unlimited cooperation" from
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130 L8cCR/Preparing for an Air Attack
their colleagues at the host institutions, even when their participation involved "considerable inconvenience."18
The Library of Congress's highest priority materials, the Declaration
of Independence and Constitution, were sent to Fort Knox.19 However, the government ordered the documents made available for public dis
play again in late 1944 because they were deemed important symbols to help inspire Americans.20
The Smithsonian and National Gallery of Art carried out collection
evacuations similar to those of the Library of Congress.21 On the other
hand, the National Archives building had the greatest resistance to
bombs of any structure in Washington, D.C. Its ten steel decks had the
capability to withstand several direct hits and still shield its contents, and
for this reason the building became known as "Fort Archives."22 Thus, it
relocated few of its documents but rearranged many documents within
the building so that highest-priority documents rested in the safest
part of the structure. (The archives did make one wise exception?it relocated its highly flammable nitrate films well outside Washington.)
The archives staff also organized themselves into squads to help defend
the building against attack. One squad watched for enemy planes from
the roof of the building, logging 2,705 hours in air patrol duty between
December 8, 1941, and January 1, 1942, alone. Other squads prepared for firefighting, demolition, or decontamination. The archives adminis
tration set up an air raid headquarters within one of the deepest rooms
of the building to direct the teams in case of an attack.23
In addition to large national libraries, many academic libraries re
located valuable materials or made preparations to rush the materials
to a safer location if an air attack seemed imminent. In early 1942 one
academic librarian at a meeting of the Association of College and Re
search Libraries declared that "certainly all would agree that there can
be no more important phase of the war activity of our libraries along the eastern coast" than solving the problem of defending libraries' col
lections and users against air attacks.24 Accordingly,
a contemporary
news article in the College and Research Libraries journal reported that
numerous academic libraries completed plans in 1942 to shield the
nation's research materials from an attack, sometimes according to a
statewide plan.25 The Riggs Memorial Library at Georgetown University, for example, found convenient shelters for its rare books in the basement
vaults of other campus buildings.26 Harvard University Library devised a
more elaborate plan, including stockpiling lumber that the library staff
could use to hurriedly construct boxes and spirit off the most valuable
materials to a distant location. The staff could in fact transport the key
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131
materials in a single day if necessary. To assure the greatest protection, the librarians kept the destination a secret after hearing reports of
looting after air raids in Europe.27 The disaster planning at Harvard
and other libraries resembled military operations in their scale, detail,
efficiency, and secrecy.
At the University of Washington library, which had the structural
strength to withstand bomb blasts and thus needed no relocation plans, librarians collected family manuscripts from private residences and
placed them in the safer quarters of the library building. The people of the state welcomed the program.28
National and academic libraries holding large manuscript collections
probably conducted the most extensive operations to relocate (or plan to relocate) their materials, but some public libraries also owned unique treasures or local archives that they transferred to safer havens. For
example, at the beginning of the conflict the New York Public Library
system evacuated $20 million worth of rare holdings to local bank safes
and a stalwart building in Saratoga.29 The Houston Public Library relo
cated huge quantities of its local newspaper holdings to the far more
bomb resistant quarters of the San Jacinto Monument.30
Special librarians who oversaw corporate records and government
collections adopted prudent measures as well. Since corporations and
government agencies needed to refer to key documents on a constant
basis, librarians sought to shield the documents on site and replicate them rather than relocate them. In Washington, D.C., the Committee
on Conservation of Cultural Resources asked government employees to move eight million cubic feet of documents to central areas within
agency buildings and, if necessary, to shield the materials with walls of
sandbags.31 In many cases, the stewards of corporate as well as govern
ment libraries replicated important documents on microfilm and de
posited the microfilm backups in remote locations. Microfilm offered an excellent medium for these replication purposes because the reels
occupied much less space than print copies, reducing the necessary size
of shelters.32 The National Archives' microfilming experts also aided
military agencies in safeguarding information through this method.33
Some special libraries in other contexts, such as museums, engaged in fortification of their facilities. The Frick Museum in New York City constructed a small protective vault to store the choicest parts of its col
lection, a plan more cost effective than strengthening the entire build
ing.34 The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York relocated some of
its materials but kept most of its collection on site and maintained its
exhibit schedule as part of its contribution to upholding public morale.
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132 L8cCR/ Preparing for an Air Attack
Other museums, galleries, and historical societies relocated materials,
developed plans to quickly relocate materials, or hardened their build
ings through such measures as layering the roof with sand and installing steel sheets over the skylights.35 These examples illustrate how libraries
used a variety
of methods?evacuation to safe locations, rearrangement
of materials with buildings, mobilization of staff into bomb-fighting
squads, bracing buildings, and replication of materials?to protect the
nation's information resources and cultural treasures. At times, libraries
went beyond protecting collections in their own care. As in the cases
of the University of Washington's program and the Committee on
Conservation's aid to federal agencies, librarians looked after materials
owned by other groups. The Committee on Conservation called upon all librarians to help nonlibrary institutions and citizens ensure the
safety of their resources.36 Librarians assumed a position of national
leadership in the protection of information from disaster.
Libraries Provide Civil Defense Information
In addition to securing the nation's books, journals, films, manu
scripts, documents, and cultural treasures, libraries also made an im
mense contribution to civil defense by compiling new air raid defense
materials for their communities. During the first few weeks after Amer
ica's entry into the war, library usage dropped off as many Americans
monitored the war through newspapers and radio. However, Americans
soon visited libraries in greater numbers as they realized their need for
instructions on civil defense measures.37 Many farsighted libraries had
already collected air raid literature that they could offer frightened
patrons in the early weeks of 1942. In two of America's most populous cities, the New York University Heights Library and the Los Angeles
Municipal Reference Library had accumulated extensive collections of
air raid materials before Pearl Harbor.38 Fortunately for the Americans, their British allies already had done some of the groundwork, and many
American libraries assembled British civil defense books and pamphlets before American materials became widely available.39 "Always and often,
it is necessary to refer to the experience of England," one American
librarian acknowledged.40
Recognizing the vital role of libraries as information providers in
the wartime emergency, President Roosevelt issued a formal call only a
month after Pearl Harbor for libraries to participate in national defense.
Around this time the nation began to mobilize its civil defense system by
forming "defense councils" made up of citizens who could coordinate
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133
state and local planning. Many librarians became active members of the
information subcommittees of these local defense councils.41 This par
ticipation helped solidify libraries' role in the civil defense information
system, laying the foundation for collaboration between other defense
groups and libraries. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt further explained ways that libraries could support the new civil defense system: "First,
by making available to the general public official literature on civilian
defense, obtained from State and local defense councils. Second, by
supplying to defense councils, on request, the specific information on
problems as they arise about which they lack general knowledge." Mrs.
Roosevelt charged librarian Mary Louise Alexander with promoting civil
defense activity among libraries.42 Roosevelt and Alexander noted that
patrons had already flooded libraries with questions about emergency first aid, blackouts, bomb shelters, and defense against airborne troops.43
Through both collection development and reference, libraries could meet many of these information requests.
In early 1942 the new federal Office of Civil Defense (OCD) strove
to elicit library support for its program. In its handbook, What Can I Do? outlining how various professions could help the nation during wartime, librarians were told: "Your war job is important. Libraries can
and should become real centers of civilian defense and war information.
Adapt your library to its newjob."44 OCD branches echoed the national calls for library participation at regional, state, and local levels.45 The
American Library Association reinforced the federal government in
this initiative. The ALA president called for every library to become a
"War Information Center" that could offer materials on all aspects of
the conflict, including air defense.46 An organizational policy declared, "The library
can contribute to the effort to prepare men, women, and
children for an ordeal which may be similar to that which British citi zens withstood so
valiantly."47 The federal government endorsed ALA's
program of War Information Centers and set up a system to distribute its air raid materials to willing institutions across the country. By 1943
more than four thousand official War Information Centers were collect
ing war-related information distributed by the government and other
groups. (Thousands of other unofficial centers also arose.) Businesses and schools sometimes became centers, but public libraries became the
principal centers in most communities. Librarians often stored their new war-related and air raid defense materials in a special section of their libraries, including books, pamphlets, bulletins, and other mate rial from a variety of federal agencies and private organizations.48 Aside from printed material, some libraries, such as the New Orleans Public
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134 L&CR/Preparing for an Air Attack
Library, gathered films on air raid defense to support the local train
ing program.49 In addition to securing materials about dealing with the
direct blast and fire effects of bombs, some libraries were meticulous
in collecting materials that could help train Americans for specific
contingencies that might arise during an attack. For example, the San
Francisco Public Library collected training guides on emergency child
birth in order to prepare individuals to assist mothers unable to reach
a hospital during an air raid.50
On the national level the Library of Congress created an air de
fense collection that included course outlines for air wardens as well
as handbooks on firefighting, poison gas, first aid, and protection of
buildings.51 As of June 1942 dozens of academic libraries had also cre
ated special collections of war information.52 The University of North
Carolina's library became a busy conduit for civil defense information
for the entire state, mailing out kits of civil defense materials on a daily basis in 1942.53
While agreeing on the need for War Information Centers, ALA and
the various federal agencies did not completely agree on how the cen
ters should function. As a result, no official standards arose about the
collection profiles, cataloging, or access
provisions for these centers.54
Local librarians developed their own ways of managing the centers. They shared their ideas with their colleagues as they assumed the role of civil
defense clearinghouse in their communities. Coupling ingenuity and
celerity, librarians found ways to expand, organize, and provide
access
to their growing defense collections within the first few months of the
war. The Rochester Public Library, for example, appointed a special coordinator of war information immediately after Pearl Harbor. The
coordinator then developed a finding aid for all the defense materi
als scattered throughout the collection, including booklets on bomb
shelters and ambulance driving.55 At the New York Municipal Reference
Library librarians gathered newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and gov
ernment-supplied publications about air raids and devised their own
reference book to serve as a guide
to their new collection.56
In these attempts to
forge new collections and access methods, librar
ians shared their homegrown methods with one another and sometimes
pooled their efforts. In 1942 a readers' adviser at the New York Public
Library, the staff of the Wilson Library Bulletin, and librarians' at the
Cooper Union Library all published civil defense bibliographies that
offered guidance to colleagues about collecting air raid materials.57 In
the January 1942 issue of Library Journal an author shared a specialized classification system for war collections that included a breakdown
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135
for air defense materials.58 The Special Library Association issued the
booklet War Subject Headings for Information Files to facilitate uniformity in civil defense collections.59 In some areas public and academic librar
ies joined forces in devising local union catalogs of war-related and civil
defense information.60 In Pennsylvania a statewide union cataloging
project generated cards for local libraries that served as purchase aids
as well as catalog records for civil defense materials.61 In reforming their
access services to meet the exigencies of war, many libraries modified
restrictive circulation policies to allow their civil defense materials to
circulate more freely62 They sometimes kept one copy of each air raid
item for reference and circulated another.
War Information Center collections held more than just air raid protec tion materials. "Civil defense" included items about any aspect of civilian
involvement with national defense, including rationing food, training civilians for the munitions industry, building morale, educating civilians
about the war, and other matters. Previous studies of War Information
Centers have given much attention to these materials, especially the
propaganda that educated civilians about foreign policy and the need
for fighting in the war. Air raid safety has received much less attention, even though practical air defense materials comprised one of the largest
parts of the collections in nearly all War Information Centers, especially
during the first two years of the war, when an attack from the sky seemed
imminent. The Office of Civil Defense served as one of the main suppliers of publications to most libraries in the first few months of the war, when
the majority of the OCD's publications dealt specifically with technical
protection against air raids.63 In response to national and professional
calls, librarians successfully developed collections and indexes that pro vided access to air defense items for a nervous
population. Reference librarians provided information services for innumerable
and urgent requests about air raid precautions. A misperception existed
among some government officials and citizens that librarians could only
"catalog and file" information.64 Reference librarians refuted this by promoting community air defense in their services. A 1942 news report on the Detroit Public Library offers insights into reference librarians' air
defense mitigation work. Entitled "Have Your Query about War Activity? Detroit Library Center Has Answer," the article reported that, in addition to government publications, the library maintained copies of announce
ments from local groups such as the Red Cross. As patrons began inquiring about such tasks as bomb shelter construction and air raid duties, Detroit reference librarians used these materials to refer people to appropriate civil defense groups and government agencies.65 The Cleveland Public
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136 L&CR/Preparing for an Air Attack
Library became a bustling hub of civil defense reference service. On one
day in 1942 reference questions included the following:
What is the formula for blackout paint? How was evacuation in England organized?
Why isn't it safe to follow OCD directions to turn off gas in public
buildings? Who makes air raid shelters?
Who is the chairman of the Civilian Defense Council in Ohio,
Michigan, Kentucky, and West Virginia?
Library patrons asking these and other questions included civil de
fense personnel, managers seeking information on protecting workers
against air raids, trainers who wanted first aid information, and volun
teers signing up for air warden classes.66 As Cleveland's case shows, many
public libraries became the communication links between the national
civil defense agencies producing the instructional materials and the local
defense groups needing guidance in their community planning. The
Pasadena (California) Public Library established a tiered civil defense
reference model. The administration stationed the War Information
Center in a special room staffed by community volunteers trained by librarians. The staff fielded advanced questions to the reference depart
ment. Reference librarians would then answer the questions themselves
or channel the questions to local defense agencies.67
Public libraries were not alone in developing air defense information
services. In addition to answering reference questions, many academic
libraries provided research consultation and bibliography services to lo
cal governments and the general public. For example, the Oregon State
College Library's reference department composed a bibliography about
air raid sirens at the request of one city government and a bibliography about camouflage for another.68 The University of Washington Library
generated bibliographies for dealing with poison gases, bombs, and
other topics.69 Many other academic libraries performed on-demand
research or bibliography projects for civil defense agencies.70 Reference librarians found creative, proactive ways of mass delivering
civil defense information to their patron groups. The Los Angeles Public
Library answered many questions related to defense matters in person via the Los Angeles Daily News, which featured defense questions from
patrons and answers from librarians in a running column. At the Enoch
Pratt Free Library in Baltimore an enterprising committee of librarians
synthesized various civil defense materials into a single pamphlet. The
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137
pamphlet, dispersed to thousands of Maryland residents, included advice
for air raid wardens and tips on preparing for blackouts.71 The Cleveland
Public Library also gave out tens of thousands of bulletins about first
aid and air raid procedures on behalf of the government.72 Meanwhile, New Orleans Public Library staff mass distributed a pamphlet, Safety in
Air Raids, throughout the Crescent City.73 A leaflet published by Iowa
State College Library outlined its war services and encouraged civil
defense groups to use their local libraries' interlibrary loan service to
order materials about people and property protection from the col
lege library.74 The Centennial Library of Illinois distributed pictures of planes from various countries, thus allowing citizens to distinguish
enemy planes.75
In addition to mass marketing, World War II libraries displayed exhib
its to educate their patrons about civil defense work. The Boston Public
Library hosted an exhibit of figurines performing various civil defense op erations.76 The Los Angeles Public Library crafted an exhibit that featured
a map of civil defense districts.77 The Newark Public Library exhibited
custom-made posters from cartoonists illustrating war
precautions. One
poster exclaimed, "Volunteer! Help Protect Your Family, Home, and City" and encouraged citizens to register with the local emergency defense
force.78 The Brooklyn Public Library employed an in-house artist to paint a mural that advertised its war information services.79 In Connecticut one
librarian went so far as to build a model air raid shelter to instruct the
public.80 In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the librarians displayed a fake
bomb (used to practice defusing techniques) from the local fire depart ment?a
powerful attention-getter that drew patrons' eyes to a collection
of air raid brochures and advertised the local antibomb programs.81 Informal surveys of special librarians revealed how they contributed to
air raid protection during World War II. Not surprisingly, special librar ians in insurance companies received many questions from businesses
and individuals seeking ways to safeguard their property. The Insurance
Library of Chicago published a bulletin for emergency groups about
coping with air raid factory fires.82 Reflecting the variety of reference
questions received at insurance libraries, one staff librarian reported that the most surprising question she had answered came from an owner
concerned about the safety of his pedigreed pets.83 Art libraries also participated in air raid protection by researching
ways to disguise potential targets from enemy planes. One art library supplied paintings to a civil defense council that was seeking examples of camouflage techniques.84 The Library of the Franklin Institute in
Philadelphia collaborated with civil defense officials in researching a
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138 L8cCR/Preparing for an Air Attack
bibliography on camouflage. The librarians also helped create a grand exhibit of camouflage plans, which showed business managers how to
disguise their factories as apple orchards and how to make large areas of industry seem like countryside from the air.85
With government help, libraries attempted to identify staff to meet the new information demands resulting from libraries' expanded roles in civil defense. The Works Progress Administration furnished temporary staff members to the Los Angeles Public Library, for example.86 The fed eral government's Library Service Division of the Office of Education, in
cooperation with other government departments, published a booklet that outlined expeditious methods for training library volunteers.87
Aided by government support, libraries went far beyond a "catalog and file" process by promoting air defense information throughout their communities. The lack of standardization for libraries serving as
War Information Centers allowed individual libraries to adapt their civil
defense services to their communities.88 They tailored disaster prepared ness information to their communities, answered reference questions, referred citizens to relevant agencies, and crafted bibliographies to help solve local-interest
problems.
Libraries as Air Raid Shelters
In many communities civilians turned not only to the information
within the library but also to the library building itself for defense
against wartime attacks. A 1942 ALA circular called upon librarians to offer space in their buildings for air defense training and meetings and even as shelter from bomb attacks. The booklet stressed that these
preparations should be coordinated with local air raid wardens as part of community plans.89 In response, librarians around the country of
fered space to air defense leaders, who developed their community defense strategies within the alcoves, lobbies, and study rooms of their
local libraries. In a 1942 annual report the District Free Library Board
in Washington, D.C, highlighted their libraries' practice of allowing civil defense planners and Red Cross staff to utilize library meeting rooms.90 In a speech during the same year the president of the Carnegie
Corporation pointed out that many Carnegie-funded libraries served
as the registration points for air raid wardens.91 Bossier Parish Public
Libraries in Louisiana offered the use of reading rooms at all branch
libraries to civil defense groups.92 The New Orleans Public Library hosted first aid and air attack workshops in its meeting spaces.93 At the same time, librarians prepared their buildings to serve as official or
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139
makeshift air raid shelters. Civil defense drills called for citizens to take
cover in nearby buildings with substantial construction. Accordingly, libraries readied their facilities to conceal or protect citizens during a surprise assault, including tinting the windows in reading rooms to
prevent internal light from attracting the attention of bombardiers.94
In the event that an enemy plane did release its payload on or near a
library, many libraries prepared for fires by placing sand, shovels, and
buckets at locations throughout their buildings.95 Libraries serving as official shelters made more sophisticated prepara
tions. In March 1941 Providence Public Library in Rhode Island offered
a sample air raid defense plan for fellow libraries that included details
on crowd control, first aid, signage, and alarms.96 Pasadena Public Li
brary staff drilled themselves to guide patrons to bunkers within the
library in less than two minutes if the sirens blared. All eighty members
participated in first aid training, with children's librarians specializing in the care of the young. The staff purchased first aid equipment with
their own money and prepared an emergency medical clinic to help the injured during a possible attack. The Pasadena Library's buildings in fact received designations as official first aid emergency stations.
(Because of previous earthquakes, the city of Pasadena had developed a well-coordinated disaster plan for all its institutions, giving the librar
ians a role that they fulfilled in an admirable fashion.)97 Some of the large academic libraries offered great protection within
their resilient columns and thick walls. For example, the University of
Washington Library (the strongest building on its campus) contributed
directly to community and campus defense by serving as an official
bomb shelter for students and the public. Ten members of the staff
participated in first aid training.98 A Library Journal essay in March 1942
prescribed precautions against air raids in smaller school buildings, an
action that likely addressed the concerns of many school librarians.99 In many areas librarians readied their libraries to shelter patrons and
maintain order for long periods if a bombing threat persisted. At the New
York Academy of Medicine's library the staff created a blackout reading room, equipped with special curtains and lamps, where patrons could
have light to peruse books during a blackout.100 Pasadena also offered a
blackout room equipped with books and periodicals that could seat two
hundred people.101 Some libraries planned discussions, storytimes, and even musical programs to help patrons pass the time during an air raid.102
School librarians collected fictional books that could entertain anxious
children confined to bomb shelters for long periods.103 Providence Public
Library's plan stated that library supervisors should "enforce order and
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140 L&CR/Preparing for an Air Attack
keep confusion at a minimum. If things get really bad, promote any scheme that tends to distract attention and restore order."104
Some librarians discovered that their status as bomb bunkers ben
efited their libraries' outreach. The air raid drills forced people to come
into library buildings who would not have visited otherwise. Music librar
ian Catherine V. Nimitz half-jokingly pointed out that "air raid drills are
good for business." "New borrowers discover us all the time," she said,
because the drills allowed her to introduce semicaptive audiences to
classical music.105
Newspapers from the war era offer countless other mentions of library facilities as meeting points for air raid defense crews, locations of air de
fense classes, headquarters of civil defense agencies, and bomb shelters.
As planning and training sites libraries aided in creating the logistics of
air defense; as shelters they were prepared to serve on the "front line"
of air defense if enemy planes ever darkened America's skies.
American Libraries' Civil Defense Contribution
The Roosevelts and the federal government gave an important civil
defense mission to libraries, although the federal agencies did not also
prescribe or even agree on the details of the libraries' defense activities.
Strained beyond the limits in many areas by the demands of total war, the national government could not always give direction to libraries
involved in this mission. The ALA supported the government's efforts
to muster libraries into the civil defense system. Thus, libraries had a
broad mission and as much national support as could be given. Given
wide latitude to fulfill their mission, libraries could then collaborate
with local governments and other groups in customizing civil defense
services to an area. They adopted a strategy based on federal and ALA
support but implemented through various forms of local collaborations.
Librarians safeguarded documents, made emergency plans, collected
defense materials, answered questions, produced bibliographies, and
planned for facility usage in ways that their communities truly needed.
Wartime collaboration between libraries and other groups did not always
go smoothly; disjoints, miscommunication, and disagreements occurred.
In general, however, a spirit of cooperation prevailed between libraries
and other institutions.
Although no survey of American libraries' air raid defense work is
known to exist, there is much evidence to strongly suggest that library air defense programs were national in scope. Trade journals and popular
newspapers recognized librarians' numerous contributions; national
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141
political and professional leaders emphasized library defense work;
major libraries engaged in intense air defense activity; and air defense
materials were included in the collections of thousands of libraries
designated as War Information Centers. Librarians helped sustain
the nation's civil defense efforts by protecting their own and others'
information resources, organizing collections of air defense materials,
providing reference service, and lending their buildings to civil defense.
Librarians perceived a threat to their collections and patrons, and they reacted vigorously by preparing to defend against that threat.
Conclusion
With considerable energy and thought, American libraries partici
pated in the air raid defense movement during World War II. Several
factors contributed to the effectiveness of American libraries in the
civil defense effort. Many Americans already viewed libraries as sources
of important
information as well as community
centers. Librarians'
helpfulness, cooperative spirit, organizational skills, committee work, meticulous planning abilities, strong work ethic, and user orientation
all served to swiftly transform libraries into civil defense centers. The
architectural strength of library buildings as well as their public owner
ship made them ideal potential refuges. Libraries, then, were fitting as
well as willing partners with the government in the civil defense system
during World War II.
While serving the nation, wartime libraries also left an important leg
acy for their profession. By participating so actively in the community's defense, libraries strengthened their leadership role in their cities and
towns, earned positive publicity for the work of libraries, and broadened
the base of library patrons. All these accomplishments served to increase
goodwill and support for local libraries.
Although the federal government and national leaders of the ALA
offered broad policies, programs, and suggestions, the most significant work performed by libraries during World War II came as a result of
local librarians' initiatives shaped by each community's needs. Becker
concludes that "the people who used the library and the librarians
who served them?not ALA leaders?gave the wartime library its pur
pose?and its importance."106 Accounts of air defense activities add
more evidence to support this idea. The nature of these activities also
supports Becker's conclusion that World War II libraries achieved more
by addressing people's "daily practical concerns" rather than inculcating them with propaganda and ideology. Preparing for air raids ranked as
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142 L&CR/Preparing for an Air Attack
a high concern for many Americans. By heroically responding to this and other practical concerns, libraries strengthened their community roles.107 Their efforts earned favorable publicity for libraries in local
newspapers, which often accentuated the helpfulness of librarians. The civil defense campaign compelled many Americans to avail themselves of library services who might not have otherwise. Reference librarians became the first point of contact with the civil defense system for many
Americans. As one contemporary noted, "answering patrons' questions
resulting from a sense of physical danger" laid the groundwork for future
library usage.108 Although circulation of traditional library materials in
general declined during the war,109 patrons used the new air raid col
lections (often given out or kept on reference rather than circulated) as well as
phone, mail, and in-person reference services on a massive,
unprecedented scale. Publicity and services that directly addressed an
urgent public need increased the visibility of and support for libraries. In many ways civil defense mobilization also helped libraries coor
dinate, streamline, and enhance services. The wartime Committee on
Conservation of Cultural Resources spurred joint planning among libraries, archives, museums, and galleries, setting the stage for more
collaboration after World War II. Air defense efforts also led to the
adoption of measures that helped protect materials against peacetime disasters, thus fueling the development of the preservation subfield within librarianship.110 Further, the popularity of libraries' simple, homegrown bibliographies about civil defense motivated librarians to
develop similar aids for postwar bibliographic instruction.111
Most significantly, libraries adopted a community-wide approach to
air defense during World War II that can serve as an example for cur
rent libraries. They looked outward to see how they could improve their
nation's chances of surviving an attack from the air. In
accomplishing this mission libraries partnered with federal and local governments, civil
defense crews, and nonprofit relief agencies. Librarians' air defense
campaign during World War II offers a vantage for examining the role
of the library in community disaster preparation.
Notes
1. Frederick J. Stielow, "Librarian Warriors and Rapprochement: Carl Milam,
Archibald MacLeish, and World War II," Libraries & Culture25 (Fall 1990): 513-33; Jack H. Harton Jr., "Fighting the Good Fight: The American Public Library in World
War II" (MSLS thesis, University of North Carolina, 1989); Bernice Stevens, "The
Library Leaves Its Ivory Center," Christian Science Monitor, June 19, 1943, WM7; Walter F. Bell and Maurice G Fortin, "Texas Libraries in World War II," Texas
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143
Library Journal 67 (Winter 1991): 116-20; Richard W. Grefrath, "War Informa tion Centres in the United States during World War II," Library History Review
1 (1974): 1-21. 2. Patti Clayton Becker, Books and Libraries in American Society during World
War II: Weapons in the War of Ideas (New York: Routledge, 2005), 72-73. 3. David Shavit, "The Greatest Morale Factor next to the Red Army: Books
and Libraries in American and British Prisoner of War Camps in Germany dur
ing World War II," Libraries & Culture 34 (Spring 1999): 113-34. 4. American Library Association Library History Roundtable, Library History
Seminar XI Draft Program, "Libraries in Times of War, Revolution, and Social
Change," October 27-30, 2005, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
http://conferences.lis.uiuc.edu/LHS.XI/programl.html, accessed August 31,
2007; Kathy Peiss, "Cultural Policy in a Time of War: The American Response to
Endangered Books in World War II," Library Trends 55 (Winter 2007): 370-86. 5. Thomas J. Kerr, Civil Defense in the U.S.: Bandaid for
a Holocaust? (Boulder,
Colo.: Westview Press, 1983), 9-19.
6. Giulio Douhet, The Command of the Air (Washington, D.C.: Office of Air
Force History, 1983). 7. Charles A. Lindbergh, "Revolutionary Change Wrought by Air Power,"
Air Corps News Letter, February 15, 1937, 13.
8. "Council Discusses National Defense at Chicago Meeting," Library Jour
nal, January 15, 1941, 66; "National Defense Emphasized at State and Regional
Library Meetings," Library Journal, January 1, 1941, 22.
9. Robert C. Mikesh, Japans World War II Bomb Attacks on North America
(Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1973), 67.
10. Steve Horn, The Second Attack on Pearl Harbor: Operation K and Other Japa nese Attempts to Bomb America in World War II (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press,
2005), 193-97. 11. Ibid., 72.
12. James P. Duffy, Target America: Hitlers Plan to Attack the United States (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2004), 140-43.
13. Robert Forsyth and Eddie J. Creek, Messerschmitt Me264 Amerikabomber:
The Luftwaffes Lost Strategic Bomber (Burgess Hill: Classic, 2006); Manfred Griehl,
Luftwaffe over America: The Secret Plans to Bomb the United States in World War II, trans. Geoffrey Brooks (Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole, 2004).
14. Duffy, Target America, 77-80.
15. "Special to the New York Times: Steps to Guard Cultural Objects against War Weighed at Capital," New York Times, April 21, 1941, 3; Anne Bruner Eales,
"Fort Archives: The National Archives Goes to War," Prologue Magazine 35
(Summer 2003): pt. 1, http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/ summer/fort-archives-l.html, accessed August 31, 2007.
16. Committee on Conservation of Cultural Resources, The Protection of Cul
tural Resources against the Hazards of War: A Preliminary Handbook (Washington, D.C.: National Resources Planning Board, 1942), iii-iv, 4-5, 12-13, 17-18.
17. Edward T. Folliard, "Plans Made for Sparing Books and Art Here from
Bombs," Washington Post, April 20, 1941, Bl, and "Washington Prepares for
Civilian Defense," Washington Post, May 25, 1941, B3.
18. Alvin W. Kremer, "Freedom's Fortress: The Library of Congress Program for Security of Its Collection," memorandum, October 7, 1942, part of Library
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144 L&CR/Preparing for an Air Attack
of Congress Archives?Central File: MacLeash/Evans, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc. mss/mff.002039, accessed August 31, 2007; David F. Krugler, This Is Only a Test:
How Washington D.C. Prepared for Nuclear War (New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2006). For more on the Library of Congress's air defense activities see John J.
Wayne, "The Library during Wartime: World War II," Library of Congress Informa tion Bulletin, February 11, 1991, 38-40.
19. Kremer, "Freedom's Fortress."
20. "Symbols of Freedom," New York Times, September 27, 1944, 20.
21. Krugler, This Is Only a Test, 15.
22. Collas G. Harris, "Archives and the War," Library fournal, October 1,
1942, 836. 23. Eales, "Fort Archives," pt. 1, and pt. 2, http://www.archives.gov/
publications/prologue/2003/summer/fort-archives-2.html, accessed August 31, 2007.
24. Bernhard Knollenberg, "The Contributions of the University Library to the War Effort: The Possible vs. the Actual," College and Research Libraries 4
(December 1942): 27. 25. "News from the Field," College and Research Libraries 3 (June 1942): 264. 26. "Riggs Library Books Stored for Duration," Washington Post, March 22,
1942, L8. 27. "Quick Safety for Harvard Books if Nazi Bombers Roar Overhead," New
York Times, October 23, 1941, 4. 28. Ethel Christoffers, "The University Library and the War," College and
Research Libraries 4 (December 1942): 21-23.
29. "Library Adjusts Services to War," New York Times, March 12,1942,17; "Li
brary Treasures Taken from Hiding," New York Times, November 2, 1944, 21.
30. Becker, Books and Libraries, 72.
31. Ben W. Gilbert, "Sandbags May Be Put around Buildings Here," Washington Post, December 30, 1941, 21.
32. Harris, "Archives and the War," 835. Cf. L. Bendikson, "Need for Safety Measures for Important Documents," Library fournal 65 (October 1940): 774.
33. Eales, "Fort Archives," pt. 2.
34. Harold E. Wessman and William A. Rose, Aerial Bombardment Protection
(New York: Wiley, 1942), 226-27. 35. "A.R.P. in New York Museums," Museum News, January 1, 1942, 5; "Muse
ums Returning Works of Art to City," New York Times, December 16, 1943, 25.
36. Committee, The Protection of Cultural Resources, 12-13.
37. "Library Adjusts Services to War," 21; "The Month at Random," Wilson
Library Bulletin 16 (February 1942): 472. 38. Carl L. Cannon, ed., Guide to Library Facilities for National Defense,
rev. ed.
(Chicago: American Library Association, 1941), 139, 141.
39. Rebecca B. Rankin, "The Special Librarian: Civilian Defense Informa
tion," Wilson Library Bulletin 16 (March 1942): 579. 40. Ibid., 581; cf. New York Public Library Director Franklin F. Hopper's
"What Public Libraries Can Do for National Defense," Library fournal, December
15,1942,10-11.
41. John Mackenzie Cory, "The National Plan for War Information Centers,"
Library fournal 67 (August 1942): 645; Walter H. C. Laves, "Libraries and Defense
Council War Information Committees," ALA Bulletin 37 (1943): 93-95.
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145
42. "Gives Role to Libraries," New York Times, ]une 7, 1942, 15.
43. "Mrs. Roosevelt Urges Libraries to Aid Defense," Washington Post, June
7, 1942, 18. 44. United States Office of Civilian Defense, What Can I Do? The Citizens'
Handbook for War (Washington, D.C.: Office of Civil Defense, 1942), 30-31.
45. "Thousands of N.E. Libraries to Be Supplied with Civil Defense Litera
ture," Christian Science Monitor, February 2, 1942, 5.
46. "Libraries and the War," Statement of Library Policy Adopted Unani
mously by the Council, Presented by the Executive Secretary, "Libraries and
the War," ALA Bulletin 36 (January 1942): 6. 47. Ibid., 7.
48. C. C. Schaeffer, "War Information Centers in the United States and at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during World War II" (master's thesis,
University of North Carolina, 1997), 1, 10-11. For another overview of the War
Information Center system see Grefrath, "War Information Centres," 1-21.
49. James Rodney Smith, "Librarians in the War Effort: New Orleans Public
Library during World War II," LLA Bulletin 56 (Winter 1994): 152. 50. Becker, Books and Libraries, 72.
51. "Raid Protection, Defense Data Now Available," Washington Post, Febru
ary 14, 1942, 26.
52. "News from the Field," 264.
53. "North Carolina Spreads Service," New York Times, May 29, 1942, D5;
Schaeffer, "War Information Centers," 18-25.
54. Schaeffer, "War Information Centers," 11-12.
55. Robert S. Ake, "Rochester's War Information Center," Wilson Library Bulletin 16 (April 1942): 631.
56. Rankin, "The Special Librarian," 579, 581.
57. Jennie M. Flexner, "Libraries and National Defense," Library Journal, Janu
ary 1,1942, 32-35; "Publications of the Office of Civilian Defense," Wilson Library Bulletin 16 (April 1942): 654-55; Cooper Union Library, "Civilian Defense: A Practical Bibliography," Wilson Library Bulletin 16 (March 1942): 546-54.
58. Mabel W. Thomas, "Special Classification for Arranging or Indexing Special Collections for Local Councils of Defense," Library Journal, January 15, 1942, 76.
59. Pat Kleiman, "War Information in an Insurance Library," Wilson Library Bulletin 17 (December 1942): 341.
60. "News from the Field," 264.
61. Grace W. Estes, "Libraries and the War Program: Wilkes-Barre,
Pennsylvania," Library Journal 67 (July 1942): 618. 62. Schaeffer, "War Information Centers," 26.
63. "Publications of the Office," 654.
64. Rose L. Vormelker, "Should the War Information Center Survive?" Library
Journal 69 (1944): 629; Schaeffer, "War Information Centers," 13-14.
65. "Have Your Query about War Activity? Detroit Library Center Has Answer,"
Christian Science Monitor, April 4, 1942, 3.
66. Rose L. Vormelker, "Cleveland's War Information Center," Library Journal 67 (1942): 349.
67. Doris L. Hoit, "The Public Library in the Community Defense Organiza tion," ALA Bulletin 36 (January 1942): 69-71.
68. Christoffers, "The University Library," 21.
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146 L&CR/Preparing for an Air Attack
69. Ibid., 23.
70. "News from the Field," 264.
71. Eleanor S. Cavanaugh, "Special Libraries and the War," Special Libraries
33 (March 1942): 85-86. 72. Rose Vormelker, "Cleveland's War and Defense Information Center as It
Is Today," Wilson Library Bulletin 17 (November 1942): 251. 73. Smith, "Librarians in the War Effort," 151-52.
74. Charles H. Brown, "War Services Offered by the Iowa State College Li
brary," ALA Bulletin 36, no. 1 (1942): 67. 75. Mark W. Sorensen, "The Illinois State Library: Extension, Reorganization
and Experimentation, 1921-1955," Illinois Libraries 81, no. 3 (Summer 1999):
135, Illinois Periodicals Online, http://www.lib.niu.edu/1999/il9903tc.html. 76. "Civilian Defense Exhibit," Christian Science Monitor, November 9, 1943, 5.
77. Ruth Savord, "What Special Libraries Can Do for Civilian Defense," Special Libraries 33 (January 1942): 13.
78. "Defense News," Bulletin of the American Library Association 36 (1942): 38-89; Catherine Van Dyne, "Defense in the Public Library," Wilson Library Bulletin 16
(December 1941): 299. 79. "The Month ... at Random," Wilson Library Bulletin 17 (September
1942): 53. 80. Cavanaugh, "Special Libraries," 87.
81. Estes, "Libraries and the War Program," 618.
82. Cavanaugh, "Special Libraries," 87.
83. Irene M. Streiby, "The Special Librarian in Wartime," Special Libraries 33
(October 1942): 285. 84. Ibid.
85. Walter A. R. Pertuck, "The Special Librarian: Camouflage," Wilson Library Bulletin 17 (February 1942): 473.
86. Cavanaugh, "Special Libraries," 85.
87. Volunteers in Library Service (Washington, D.C: Office of Civilian Defense, Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services, Library Service Division of the
Office of Education, 1942). 88. Harton, "Fighting the Good Fight," 38.
89. Nell A. Unger et al., National Defense and the Public Library (Chicago: American Library Association, 1942), 41-44.
90. "Public Library Has New Place in War World," Washington Post, October
11,1942,10.
91. "$2,831,650 Given by Carnegie Fund," New York Times, December 14,
1942, 15. 92. Connie L. Phelps, "Louisiana Parish Libraries and World War II: A Survey,"
LLA Bulletin 56 (Winter 1994): 137. 93. Smith, "Librarians in the War Effort," 151.
94. Bruce Weber, "Reading Room, the Library's Storied Sanctuary, Will Close
for Renovations," New York Times, July 4, 1997, B5.
95. Estelle Brodman, "Air Raid Precautions in New York City Libraries,"
Special Libraries 33 (December 1942): 370-71. 96. "Providence Precautions," Library Journal, March 15, 1942, 265.
97. Hoit, "The Public Library," 69, 71-72.
98. Christoffers, "The University Library," 23-24.
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147
99. "Air Raids and the Schools," Library Journal, March 15, 1942, 256-58.
100. Brodman, "Air Raid Precautions," 370-71.
101. Hoit, "The Public Library," 72. 102. Unger et al., National Defense, 43.
103. "Read Children's Tales," New York Times, March 15, 1942, D7.
104. "Providence Precautions," 265.
105. "Air Raid Tests Help Library," Washington Post, June 28, 1943, 10.
106. Becker, Books and Libraries, 208.
107. Ibid., 207-8.
108. Vormelker, "Should the War Information Center Survive?" 629.
109. Becker, Books and Libraries, 211-15.
110. Harris, "Archives and the War," 836.
111. Schaeffer, "War Information Centers," 26.
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