preparing for an air attack: libraries and american air raid defense during world war ii

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



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.



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,




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



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



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



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.



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



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




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



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




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



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



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



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




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



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




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



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




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.



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.


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.




69. Ibid., 23.


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.



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.

