The Hugo Keesing collection on World War II

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global military conflict from 1939 to 1945 stretching from islands in the pacific to North Africa and Western Asia and through all of Europe leading to over 73 million dead from combat, starvation, and genocide. Much like the preceding First World War roughly twenty years earlier, nations aligned themselves into two major factions but the war was fought on a myriad of different concurrent fronts. The Axis powers were led by Nazi Germany (which instigated the war with its invasion of Poland) and also included the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Japan. Pitted against the Axis were the Allies led by the British Empire, Soviet Union, United States, and the Republic of China but also supported by: India, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ethiopia, Brazil, Philippines, Mongolia, Nepal, Mexico, and Cuba. Beyond a catastrophic loss of life, World War II also resulted in the creation of the United Nations, the dissolving of Nazi Germany and the Italian and Japanese empires, and the beginnings of the Cold War. The Second World War remains the deadliest conflict in human history with immense effects on culture and political dynamics throughout the world.

Soon after Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, France, the United Kingdom, and others declared war on the Nazis and in the following year the war stretched into most of Western Europe with the Axis powers joining forces in September of 1940 with the Tripartite pact. The United States entered the war following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. Within months, American citizens of Japanese descent were forcibly moved into internment camps where they remained for the duration of the war. Around the same time, a draft was instituted and Americans began to enlist of their own volition at record numbers as the war came to dominate public consciousness. As soldiers throughout the U.S. were deployed overseas, at home institutions large and small re-oriented themselves around supporting the war effort. People invested in war bonds, rationed consumer goods and grew “Victory Gardens.” As men left for active duty, women took on industrial and military labor in much greater numbers than before the war.

The totality of the war was reflected in its dominance in American popular culture of the time. As with the preceding World War, the United States Government played a critical role in disseminating information about the war domestically with the aim of garnering universal support for the war. The Office of War Information, formed in 1942 used radio broadcasts, through Voices of America and used the newly dominant media of film through the Bureau of Motion Pictures to produce and spread propaganda in the U.S. and abroad. Entertainment was equally engaged in the war effort in the private sector. Songs about the war such as “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” were immensely popular stateside throughout the war and served to both encourage support for the war, and humanize the experiences of those involved, especially feelings of longing for loved ones.

The war was fought in major campaigns in Eastern and Western Europe as well as North Africa and the Pacific. The Battles of Midway and Stalingrad proved decisive victories for the Allies turning the tide against Japan and Germany respectively. While the war was being fought on many fronts and Nazi Germany continued to occupy a growing portion of Western Europe. Nazi forces planned and carried out the Holocaust, resulting in the murder of at least six million Jews alongside similar related campaigns resulting in the murder of Roma, Ethnic Poles, and Soviet citizens, disabled people, religious and political dissenters, and gay men. German and Italian Surrender came following victories at the battles of Normandy and Berlin. As the war with Japan continued, American forces began attacks on the Japanese mainland first with the bombing of Tokyo resulting in over 100,000 civilian deaths and a million homeless and followed by the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing between 129,000 and 226,000, the majority of which being civilians. Within a month Japanese forces signed documents of surrender ending the war.

The research materials, recordings, and sheet music in the Hugo Keesing collection on World War II reflect the pervasive nature of popular music during while the United States was an active participant in the war. Research materials highlight trends, stock characters, and iconography in popular song of the Second World War while the recordings and sheet music cover an array of attitudes and reactions to the war and demonstrate the centrality of popular music to the American war effort of the time.