Evansville,
Indiana has long been proud of its war efforts during the late 1930s and early
1940s. The citizens of Evansville profoundly helped the war effort, as did many
American cities during World War II.
The City of Evansville and its
businessmen sought out contracts for a variety of war products from airplanes
to steel casters. During the war years, the Evansville factories printed
newsletters for staff and for the general public.
The Evansville Vanderburgh Public
Library (EVPL) holds several years of newsletters from Servel, Faultless Caster
Corp, Republic Aviation, the Evansville Shipyard, Sunbeam Electric, and Hoosier
Lamp and Stamping.
In April, the Library was awarded a
2012 LSTA grant to create the Evansville in WWII Digital Collection. As part of
the Evansville in WWII Digital Collection, the Library collaborated with two
community partners, a local university and a museum. The University of Southern
Indiana owns the William Sonntag Collection which contains 47 war bond posters
produced by the US Government Printing Office and distributed around the
country. These particular posters were collected from Evansville area shops by
the Sonntag Family during the war.
Upon completing the factory
newsletters and the war bond posters, EVPL reached out to the Evansville Museum
of Arts, History, and Science. The Curator of History was eager to scan their
Evansville Shipyard photograph collection consisting of nearly 10,000 images.
The US Navy commissioned a photographer to document the goings on at the
Shipyard. The photographer documented staff, laborers, ship building, boat
launching ceremonies, and recreational activities.
The Evansville in WWII Collection is
available at www.evpl.org/wwii. EVPL has organized a speaker series including
spotlights on Rosie the Riveters, race relations in Evansville, shipbuilding,
the WPA, navigating online WWII resources, and information about living in Evansville
during the war effort.
Source: Society of Indiana Archivists E-Newsletter, Spring 2013
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