Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Great Britain. Ministry of Information
- Abstract:
- Pamphlets, posters, serial issues, press releases, photographs, and postcards, distributed during World War II.
- Extent:
- 17 manuscript boxes, 1 card file box, 1 oversize folder (7.8 Linear Feet)
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Great Britain Ministry of Information propaganda, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The propaganda collection includes a variety of materials distributed during World War II by the Ministry of Information in Great Britain. The various pamphlets, leaflets, posters, serial issues, press releases, photographs, and postcards include: informational guides that explain how to set up bomb shelters, what to do in a fire, what crops to grow, and what the public can do to help keep themselves and others safe. The collection also contains newspapers and brochures discussing the current situations throughout the war; counter propaganda materials that combat the influence of Nazi propaganda; and materials that highlight new British inventions and breakthroughs such as improved planes, submarines, and combat tactics. A majority of the materials have visual images such as cartoons and drawings. Some materials are duplicates printed in multiple languages.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Formed on September 4th 1939, the day after Britain's declaration of war, the Ministry of Information (MOI) was the central government department responsible for publicity and propaganda in the Second World War. The initial functions of the MOI were threefold: news and press censorship; home publicity; and overseas publicity in Allied and neutral countries. Planning for such an organisation had started in October 1935 under the auspices of the Committee for Imperial Defence, largely conducted in secret; otherwise the government was publicly admitting the inevitability of war. Propaganda was still tainted by the experience of the First World War. In the 'Great War', several different agencies had been responsible for propaganda, except for a brief period when there had been a Department of Information (1917) and a Ministry of Information (1918) Planning for the new MOI was largely organised by volunteers drawn from a wide range of government departments, public bodies and specialist outside organisations. In March 1946, the MOI was dissolved. Its residual functions passed to the Central Office of Information (COI), a central organisation providing common and specialist information services.
Source: "The Art of War" The National Archives, Great Britain, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/theartofwar/inf3.htm - Acquisition information:
- Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives
- Arrangement:
-
The container list below is arranged by format in two groups: Pamphlets and Leaflets, and Maps, Portraits, Postcards, and Stamps, then alphabetically by title of the document. Author, publisher, and publisher location are listed when available on the document. Dates are given when they appear on the document, otherwise dates are supposed to be within the years of World War II. Materials in each box are physically arranged in alphabetical order by title.
- Physical location:
- Hoover Institution Library & Archives
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
- Terms of access:
-
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Great Britain Ministry of Information propaganda, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
- Location of this collection:
-
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford UniversityStanford, CA 94305-6003, US
- Contact:
- (650) 723-3563