Slices of WWII going digital
Since 1982, potent reminders of the way things were on the home front during World War II have been in storage at the Lake County Discovery Museum, available by appointment only to researchers.
Soon, the lids will be lifted and drawers opened to that time via a popular Web site of historical material that gets a million hits each month.
The process of scanning thousands of items to make them available on www.digitalpast.org, a regional network, will begin in about two weeks. The finished products will be posted in batches through early summer.
"It's been in our internal database," said Christine Pyle, historical resources manager for the museum. "Instead of coming to us, they'll be out on Digital Past for people to do research."
The project includes images of about 14,000 individual items. Some, like two top secret invasion maps, instructional pamphlets on rationing and civil defense, uniforms, envelopes with propaganda stickers ("Slave world or free world?" is one message) and a German prisoner of war booklet, are directly related to military matters.
Most numerous, however, are postcards offering a snapshot of everyday life during wartime from 1940 to 1945.
While the work will boost the museum's already formidable presence of historical material on the Web, it also is an example of an urgent push to chronicle an era whose numbers are rapidly dwindling.
"Anything relative to World War II and preserving it for future generations is a priority of ours," said Pat McGuckin, manager of communications for the Illinois State Library.
The Discovery Museum was one of 13 recipients of the most recent round of digital imaging grants awarded by State Librarian Jesse White. Its award of $85,000 was the largest in that category, accounting for nearly a quarter of the total amount awarded statewide for digital imaging.
"Keep Them Flying: The Lake County Discover Museum's World War II Collection" will illustrate the war on many levels.
With factories called out of service for the war effort and gasoline, shoes and other commodities being rationed, purveyors throughout the country wanted to keep their products in the public eye.
Colorful postcards were sent as advertisements to customers, reminders not to forget them when peace finally came. The Eneslow Shoe Co. of New York, for example, promised to give full value for a ration coupon.
The postcards were manufactured by the Curt Teich Co. of Chicago, which in 1982 donated its collection to the Discovery Museum, making it the largest public collection of postcards and related materials in the world.
The exhibit includes all Teich postcards from 1940 to 1945 -- in mint condition -- spanning all branches of military life, home-front efforts during the war and examples of daily life.
"You get a snapshot of everything that was going on in the country during those years," Pyle said.
During the war, Teich printed more than 3 million maps -- 100 percent of the invasion maps and 50 percent of all other maps used by the Army Map Service.
Postcards were printed on the third floor of the plant by Japanese-American workers, used as decoys as anyone seeing them come and go wouldn't think sensitive military information was being produced, Pyle said.
The offerings also will include materials from Fort Sheridan near Highland Park. Troops there played a role in every major military conflict from the Spanish-American War through Operation Desert Storm before it closed in the 1990s.
Digital Past is overseen by the North Suburban Library System and offers more than 35,000 records. Browsers can view photos, articles, documents, silent movies and other materials from more than 25 institutions.