The Great War: Guide
Library and Archives project
The Webb School Archives houses the Son Will Collection. During the Great War, Son Will served as a “Four-Minute Man,” delivering brief, persuasive speeches to rally public support for the war effort. Drawing on his oratorical skills and a complete set of glass slides from the Committee on Public Information (CPI)—a government agency established by President Woodrow Wilson in April 1917—he helped mobilize public opinion in favor of U.S. involvement in World War I.
The Webb School World War I collection
- World War I Slides CPI Son Will Slideshow 1918More than 650 glass slides from the early 1900s, many of them pertaining to World War I, and a complete Four-Minute Man slideshow script promoting the United States’ participation in the war, are the focus of a project that, once completed and archived online, could turn out to be one of a kind. The sheer number of slides makes Webb’s collection unique. Online searches have yet to yield collections as large or as varied.
- Identifications sought for World War I soldiers' portraitsBy JOHN I. CARNEY 4/22/18
SHELBYVILLE TIMES-GAZETTE
Do you have an ancestor who served in World War I? Have you ever seen photos of him?
During the war, William R. Webb Jr., son of Webb School founder Sawney Webb, was co-principal of the school, and "de facto headmaster," according to Webb history instructor L.R. Smith. "He was also a 'Four-Minute Man,'" said Smith; "namely, a volunteer speaker for the Committee On Public Information, which was the all-pervasive government propaganda office in charge of selling the Great War to the American public."
World War I Slides
- Sergeant Alvin C. York State Historic ParkSergeant Alvin C. York State Historic Park is located nine miles north of Jamestown in Pall Mall, Tennessee and pays tribute to one of the most decorated soldiers of World War I.
- Digital HistoryAmerica at War: World War I
Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2018). Digital History. Retrieved 16 Aug 2018. from
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu
Available eBooks and Databases
World War I by
Collins, Ross F. World War I: Primary Documents on Events from 1914 to 1919. edited by Copeland, David A. Greenwood Press, 2008. Debating Historical Issues in the Media of the Time. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/pub/3MIW/GVRL?u=tel_k_webbsl&sid=GVRL. Accessed 16 Aug. 2018.
Primary documents from the World War I era bring to life the causes, events and consequences of those tumultuous and violent years. Varied perspectives provide a valuable overview of the many and often complicated reactions by Americans to Pre-war European politics, Archduke Ferdinand's assassination, the sinking of the Lusitania by a German submarine, the major battles fought, and of the eventual and controversial entry into the war by the United States, among others. Will be a valued resource for researchers seeking to tap into contemporary attitudes toward events long gone.
Call Number: eBookISBN: 0313320829Publication Date: 2007-12-30
Dazzle Ships by
During World War I, British and American ships were painted with bold colors and crazy patterns from bow to stern. Why would anyone put such eye-catching designs on ships? Desperate to protect ships from German torpedo attacks, British lieutenant-commander Norman Wilkinson proposed what became known as dazzle. These stunning patterns and colors were meant to confuse the enemy about a ship's speed and direction. By the end of the war, more than four thousand ships had been painted with these mesmerizing designs. Author Chris Barton and illustrator Victo Ngai vividly bring to life this little-known story of how the unlikely and the improbable became just plain dazzling.
ISBN: 1512410144Publication Date: 2017-09-01
The Great War by
Launched on July 1, 1916, the Battle of the Somme has come to epitomize the madness of the First World War. Almost 20,000 British soldiers were killed and another 40,000 were wounded that first day, and there were more than one million casualties by the time the offensive halted. In The Great War, acclaimed cartoon journalist Joe Sacco depicts the events of that day in an extraordinary, 24-foot- long panorama: from General Douglas Haig and the massive artillery positions behind the trench lines to the legions of soldiers going "over the top" and getting cut down in no-man's-land, to the tens of thousands of wounded soldiers retreating and the dead being buried en masse. Printed on fine accordion-fold paper and packaged in a deluxe slipcase with a 16-page booklet, The Great War is a landmark in Sacco's illustrious career and allows us to see the War to End All Wars as we've never seen it before.
ISBN: 0393088804Publication Date: 2013-11-04
Great War Fashion by
Imagine 'stepping into someone else's shoes'. Walking back in time a century ago, which shoes would they be? A pair of silk sensations costing thousands of pounds designed by Yantonnay of Paris or wooden clogs with metal cleats that spark on the cobbles of a factory yard? Will your shoes be heavy with mud from trudging along duckboards between the tents of a frontline hospital... or stuck with tufts of turf from a football pitch? Will you be cloaked in green and purple, brandishing a 'Votes for Women' banner or will you be the height of respectability, restricted by your thigh-length corset? Great War Fashion opens the woman's wardrobe in the years before the outbreak of war to explore the real woman behind the stiff, mono-bosomed ideal of the Edwardian Society lady draped in gossamer gowns, and closes it on a new breed of women who have donned trousers and overalls to feed the nation's guns in munitions factories and who, clad in mourning, have loved and lost a whole generation of men. The journey through Great War Fashion is not just about the changing clothes and fashions of the war years, but much more than that - it is a journey into the lives of the women who lived under the shadow of war and were irrevocably changed by it. At times, laugh-out-loud funny and at others, bringing you to tears, Lucy Adlington paints a unique portrait of an inspiring generation of women, brought to life in rare and stunning images.
ISBN: 0752493485Publication Date: 2014-04-01
The Illusion of Victory by
The political history of the American experience in World War I is a story of conflict and bungled intentions that begins in an era dedicated to progressive social reform and ends in the Red Scare and Prohibition. Thomas Fleming tells this story through the complex figure of Woodrow Wilson, the contradictory president who wept after declaring war, devastated because he knew it would destroy the tolerance of the American people, but who then suppressed freedom of speech and used propaganda to excite America into a Hun-hating mob. This is tragic history: inexperienced American military leaders drove their troops into gruesome slaughters; progressive politics were put on hold in America; an idealistic president's dreams were crushed because of his own negligence. Wilson's inability to convince Congress to ratify U.S. membership in the League of Nations was one of the most poignant failures in the history of the American presidency, but even more heartrending were Wilson's concessions to his bitter allies in the Treaty of Versailles. In exchange for Allied support of the League of Nations, he allowed an unfair peace treaty to be signed, a treaty that played no small role in the rise of National Socialism and the outbreak of World War II. Thomas Fleming has once again created a masterpiece of narrative American history. This incomparable portrait shows how Wilson sacrificed his noble vision to megalomania and single-mindedness, while paying homage to him as a visionary whose honorable spirit continues to influence Western politics.
ISBN: 046502467XPublication Date: 2003-05-28
Selling the Great War by
The riveting, untold story of George Creel and the Committee on Public Information -- the first and only propaganda initiative sanctioned by the U.S. government. When the people of the United States were reluctant to enter World War I, maverick journalist George Creel created a committee at President Woodrow Wilson's request to sway the tide of public opinion. The Committee on Public Information monopolized every medium and avenue of communication with the goal of creating a nation of enthusiastic warriors for democracy. Forging a path that would later be studied and retread by such characters as Adolf Hitler, the Committee revolutionized the techniques of governmental persuasion, changing the course of history. Selling the War is the story of George Creel and the epoch-making agency he built and led. It will tell how he came to build the and how he ran it, using the emerging industries of mass advertising and public relations to convince isolationist Americans to go to war. It was a force whose effects were felt throughout the twentieth century and continue to be felt, perhaps even more strongly, today. In this compelling and original account, Alan Axelrod offers a fascinating portrait of America on the cusp ofbecoming a world power and how its first and most extensive propaganda machine attained unprecedented results.
ISBN: 0230605036Publication Date: 2009-03-03
A Short History of World War I by
World War I was a bloodletting so vast and unprecedented that for a generation it was known simply as the Great War. Casualty lists reached unimagined proportions as the same ground -- places like Ypres and the Somme -- was fought over again and again. Other major bloody battles remain vivid in memory to this day: Gallipoli and the Battle of Jutland are but two examples. Europe was at war with itself, and the effect on Western civilization was profound, its repercussions felt even today. World War I saw the introduction of modern technology into the military arena: The tank, airplane, machine gun, submarine, and -- most lethal of all -- poison gas, all received their first widespread use. Professor Stokesbury analyzes these technological innovations and the war's complex military campaigns in lucid detail. At the same time he discusses the great political events that unfolded during the war, such as the Russian Revolution and the end of the Hapsburg dynasty, putting the social and political side of the war into the context of modern European history. A Short History of World War I is the first history of this war to be written in twenty years. It incorporates recent research and current thinking about the war in a highly readable and lively style.
ISBN: 0688001297Publication Date: 1981-02-01
World War I by
2014 marks the centennial of the start of World War I -- DK will mark the occasion with the publication of World War I: The Definitive Visual Guide, a vividly illustrated, in-depth account of the Great War. Written by historian R. G. Grant, and created by DK's award-winning editorial and design team, World War I charts the developments of the war from a global perspective. Using illustrated timelines, detailed maps, and personal accounts, readers will see the oft-studied war in a new light. Key episodes are set clearly in the wider context of the conflict, in-depth profiles look at the key generals and political leaders, and full-color photo galleries showcase the weapons, inventions, and new technologies that altered the course of history. A vivid portrait of the confrontation on land, sea, and sky, World War I: The Definitive Visual Guide offers readers a bold and thoughtful new look at this complex and explosive moment in history.
ISBN: 1465419381Publication Date: 2014-04-21
Tech Interaction
Webb Boys in World War I
English to French Dictionary
Belonged to William B. Campbell a Webb Student who enlisted during World War I
Webb Alumni Bulletin
The Webb School Library and Archives Phone: 931-389-5758