Pictures at War
Reading war news aboard streetcar. San Francisco, California. 1941. John Collier. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. Pictures at War Did you know that the New York Public Library's Picture Collection was a key resource for the Armed Forces during World War II? Here is an excerpt from the Annual Report for 1943: "The enemy loomed large as the most popular subject in picture requests during the year. Since a soldier is taught to bayonet the enemy and not some undefined abstraction, he must learn to recognize that enemy; a bombardier must be able to visualize the appearance of the factory which is to be his target; a designer of camouflage must have the specific knowledge of the shape of forests in the battle area as seen from the air. War leaders require pictorial surveys preceding decisions of strategy and action. Direct information for the use of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps was supp