CRIM Digital Archive
UIC CRIM is collecting and archiving information that informs on the daily lives of soldiers during World War II. Our focus is on the experiences of American soldiers in the Pacific Theater, as documented through material culture and unofficial and personal recorded accounts. Our goal is to supplement official archives, filled with forms and top-down documentation, with the bottom-up accountings of the men and women at the front. We find that these materials assist in our efforts to research, investigate, and locate war dead as they contribute to our understanding the lives of the missing and the circumstances of their loss.
Our goal is to make these materials publicly available, but at this point we are in the collection stage. If you or a family member have copies of any documents or images that relate to the life of service members or civilians during World War II, and are willing to share, please contact us at criminbox@uic.edu.
Examples of the types of materials we are interested in can be found below.
Information about the Digital Archive Heading link
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Unit Ephemera
The Liberty Torch, a newsletter created by the 77th Infantry DivisionDuring World War II, many units printed and published their own newsletters or newspapers. The scope and tone of these could range from professional and official to satirical and downright silly. As such, they represent a window into the lives of the people who made up a unit, their actions, hopes, desires, and opinions. These publications can present news as mundane as the base’s new cat alongside feats of extraordinary bravery and personal details of recent missions. As such they are a valuable humanizing insight into daily life in a war zone.
Unfortunately, many of these publications were not official, and no state-sponsored archive exists of these accounts. Rather they are found in bits and pieces in schools, universities, museums, and personal collections. It is CRIM’s goal to collect, organize, and digitally store these publications whenever we encounter them, so they can be of use for future research.
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Personal Accounts
Personal accounts like journals, letters, and memoirs give a direct link to the experiences of individuals in conflict zones. We are interested in the accounts of both soldiers and civilians. These materials can be particularly useful sources of eyewitness information that can help CRIM researchers locate the missing.
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Material of Daily Life
Ed Steers CollectionMakeshift Washing Machine Made From Spare PartsCRIM researchers also have an interest in the ways in which service members and civilians modified and personalized war materiel. We are creating an archive of materiel reuse/recycling to document the ways in which the materiel of war was transformed into objects of daily necessity and trench art.
In addition, war materiel may be of use to local populations well after a conflict ends. For example, in the Philippines materiel continues to be repurposed for everything from spoons to church bells. At CRIM we have an interest in documenting these lasting reminders of conflict as well.
If you have examples of war materiel that has been personalized, upcycled, or turned into trench art, please email us at criminbox@uic.edu. We’d love to learn about what you’ve got.