Historical and Cultural Links

Please explore my site.  There are many links to historical and cultural information integrated with Joan’s writings throughout this site beyond the ones I mention on this page.

There are numerous sites you can visit about World War II.  I recommend visiting those from museums, government agencies, or universities.  You can usually rely on their accuracy.

There are so many sites, I’m mainly going to mention those that directly touch on what Joan writes about in her diary.  But I could put so many more here on this page.

This site from the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) contains information about WWII especially FOR children.  Here’s a picture from that site of a soldier kissing his daughter goodbye as he goes to war.

The Library of Congress has tons of information.  This is where I got this next photo from the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  Joan writes about hearing about this event which catapulted the U.S. into World War II.

The Library of Congress has amazing photos in color too.  Look here for many photos of rural areas and mobilization as the war begins.

Check out A Chronological Collection of Documents Relating to the U.S. Entry Into WWII.  It contains PRIMARY documents related to the war.  That is, material that actually was said or written during the war, not by someone later.  For example, here is a photograph of the actual “Naval dispatch from the Commander in Chief Pacific (CINCPAC) announcing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.”

To find out more about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, go to the Franklin Roosevelt Digital Library and Digital Archives.  You can access digitized documents, digitized historical photographs, and digitized motion picture clips and audio clips.  When you read about Joan’s listening to a speech of FDR, try to find it on this site.  And you’ll discover lots of other fascinating material while you are on your journey.

They even show you here how to cite material you quote or use.  For example, this photo comes from their archives.  It depicts Franklin D. Roosevelt, F.D.R. Jr,. Churchill, and Elliott R. at the Atlantic Conference on August 9, 1941.  The Library ID for this photo is 48223616.  The Atlantic conference between the U.S. and Britain draft goals and aims for a post-World War II world–and this even before the U.S. had entered the war!

A book I found really useful is also published by Chicago Review Press.  It’s by Richard Panchyk and is called World War II for Kids.  See it on Amazon here.  The information is great for kids, teens, and adults.  Plus it has lots of photos.  And at the back of the book there is a whole section called “Resources” with lots of websites “For Further Exploration.”  I got a number of the websites I mention here from this very useful book.

You can even find out about art that went missing or was stolen during the chaos that was WWII.  Read about it at the Smithsonian Museum website.

You can access all sorts of fascinating records at the National Archives.  This page gives you a link to the 1940 census.

In England the main repository is at The National Archives.  You can do a lot of research online.

German records can be accessed through Das Bundesarchiv which tells you what it has and where to go do research in Germany.