POPULAR NEWSPAPERS DURING WORLD WAR I

Parts 1 to 3: 1914-1919 (The Daily Express, The Mirror, The News of the World, The People and The Sunday Express)

Titles of Related Interest

JOURNALISM AND POLITICS
Series One: The Papers of C. P. Scott, 1846-1932
from the John Rylands University Library of Manchester

October 17, 1915 “...received wire from Lloyd-George asking me to see him again on Sunday... He was doubting whether to bring matters to a crisis at the Cabinet next day. Said conditions in Russia were far worse than supposed. Government had received a telegram to say that total losses of Russian armies were 6 millions (2 million prisoners) and they had left only 700,000 fighting men...He asked me what I, C. P. Scott, would do if I were Lloyd-George. I replied that the question wasn’t an easy one, but that I believed the voluntary system if pressed to its furthest point would give nearly as good a return of men as compulsion and that the difference which might remain would not be worth splitting the nation for - in any case I thought the nation was totally unprepared for the break-up of the Government on the issue of compulsion and for a possible general election as a consequence.”

This is an extract from C. P. Scott’s Political Diary, 1911-1928, which is published in full for the first time in this microfilm collection. The First World War and the Russion Revolution come under close scrutiny as Scott records meetings with McKenna, Lloyd-George, Henderson and Kerensky.

C. P. Scott’s Correspondence (nearly 4,000 letters) makes up the heart of the archive. The Correspndence Files read like a who’s who of modern politics. The letters amplify the themes of the political diary. They invite one to a world of political intrigue, discussions over canapés at country house retreats, lobbying by interest groups and political elites.

THE FIRST WORLD WAR: A DOCUMENTARY RECORD
Series One: European War 1914-1919, the War Reserve Collection (WRA-WRE) from Cambridge University Library

The War Reserve Collection is one of the finest collections in the world of materials documenting what was, perhaps, the seminal event of this century.

“The First World War was the world changing event of this century. With all that has been written about it, large areas need to be enriched and deepened by access to a wider range of material. The War Reserve Collection at Cambridge University Library contains many unfamiliar and unusual documents. Once it becomes widely available, it will provide one basis for scholarly and popular studies of topics such as the trench experience, the role of the auxiliary services, and the propaganda campaigns of the two sides (a welcome development, given that much writing on propaganda so far has tended to be as one-sided as the propaganda itself).”
Professor Trevor Wilson
Department of History
University of Adelaide

Founded in 1915 by Francis Jenkinson, University Librarian, the Collection now contains many thousands of pieces of printed ephemera, rare printed materials and manuscripts, documenting the social, political and military history of the Great War.

Part 1 offers the complete card index of the Collection. This is a major reference tool in its own right and will make scholars aware of many publications that they might otherwise miss.

Part 2 commences coverage of the Collection itself and focuses on Trench Journals, Personal Narratives and Reminiscences.

These sources provide an immediate and personal perspective on the war. They show the realities of trench warfare, and describe the experiences of infantrymen, officers, airmen, those at training camps, the tanks corps, sappers, captured troops and soldiers on troopships sailing home.

Parts 3 and 4 concentrate on one of the great strengths of the War Reserve Collection - its holdings of Allied and German propaganda. With a strong visual and textual impact many of these items are very striking indeed. Scholars are now able to make a balanced assessment of this medium for themselves.

There is literature aimed at the troops at the front line; at businessmen at home; at wives and mothers; and at politicians.

Part 5 offers an equally broad range of rare printed (often ephemeral) sources on an under-studied dimension of the war - the role of the medical, nursing and other auxiliary services.

The works of the Royal Army Medical Corps and the Red Cross are well covered, as are the efforts of the Aide Civile Belge, the Canadian Army Medical Corps, the French Relief Fund, the New Zealand Medical Service and the YMCA.

Key topics covered are the employment of women in medical services and the munitions industry; railway interests in the war (for mobilisation, supply and as ambulance trains); War Savings and War Pensions Nutritional Advice; and the role of charities in the war.

Part 6 is devoted to The War at Sea and the War in the Air. The War at Sea encompasses not just the set-piece naval conflicts, but the broader issues of merchant shipping, th U-boat war, and the blockade of Germany.

Ariel combat was a novelty in the First World War. All aspects of this increasingly influential force are documented.

POPULAR NEWSPAPERS DURING WORLD WAR II
Parts 1 to 5 (the Daily Express, the Daily Mirror, News of the World, The People and the Sunday Express)

Popular Newspapers is an excellent source for revealing most about the impact of the war on the home front, the ways in which the British people amused themselves in the face of adversity, and how the public morale was kept high through a mixture of propaganda and judicious reporting.

More importantly, it is through these papers that we can see how ordinary people received news of the war. With a combined circulation of over 13 million in 1939 increasing to over 22 million by 1948, and a secondary readership far in excess of these figures, the News of the World, The People, the Daily Mirror, and the Sunday Express reached into the homes of the majority of the British public and played a critical role in shaping public perceptions of the war.

Here - for the first time - are complete runs of these papers including the fashion, sports, entertainments and adverts, providing countless teaching and research opportunities for those studying journalism, social history and popular culture.

Any library supporting studies of World War II should consider adding this set to their collections. It shows how the news of the world’s events were mirrored and expressed to the people, how opinions were formed, and how people lived and survived. It is a most valuable resource for those interested in Media Studies, Newspaper History, the History of Journalism, and those concerned with the social and cultural history of the Second World War.

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