Recording the war effort: immigrant communities in Latin America and the memory of the Great War

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to analyse the initiatives undertaken by some immigrant communities residing in Latin America to record their mobilisation around the First World War. After the armistice, European communities in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and other countries gathered detailed information about their activities during the conflict, published as profusely illustrated books of remembrance, offered to their governments as proof of their loyalty. The article intends to establish the peculiar nature of these publications as records of the war effort, and analyse the agents and processes of their elaboration, and their role as commemorative but also as archival documents.     

Epideictic Rhetoric in the Service of War: George W. Bush on Iraq and the 60th Anniversary of the Victory over Japan

This essay explores the relationship between epideictic discourse and war through the analysis of George W. Bush's August 20, 2005, address at the Naval Air Station near San Diego, ostensibly to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Japan. The case also serves as an exemplar for how Bush routinely interwove epideictic appeals with collective memories of World War II in order to promote the Iraq war and deflect criticism of his policies there. Bush praised the greatest generation and linked it to the current generation; blamed and dehumanized enemies of the past and present; advocated for war based on “lessons” from the past; and reinforced a shared identity to instill both obligation and confidence.     

Character sketches: The curious propaganda careers of Mary,Jane, and Willie

This article draws on the concepts of narrative interactivity and closure to investigate three World War II-era print media characters. The analysis details how Al Parker’s Mary & Jane and Norman Rockwell’s Willie Gillis developed a perceived authenticity that invited fans to envision the propaganda drawings as having lives beyond their artistic origins. The essay concludes that the narrative arcs of these characters prefigured the imagined relationships that subsequent generations developed with televised characters.     

The historian activist and the Gift to the Nation project: preserving the records of the Australian Red Cross

ABSTRACT

In 2014, as part of their centenary celebrations, the Australian Red Cross initiated a project in which it transferred archives to various national, state and territory institutions across Australia including the University of Melbourne Archives and the State Library of New South Wales. The transfer of this voluminous (but not complete) collection built on earlier transfers of archives to the State Library of South Australia and the Australian War Memorial. This paper charts the origins of the plan to donate the records to public repositories. It interrogates the societal provenance of those collections, recognising that the pluralising of records is an historical process, in which the agency of archivists, historians and administrators must be understood. An investigation of Red Cross records in Australia exposes that process in its contingency, inertia and, ultimately, enthusiasm. The paper also reveals the challenges faced by voluntary organisations in preserving their records, and how historians and archivists both can benefit from assisting such organisations. Finally, this paper argues that the ‘Gift to the Nation’ project, with its national and international significance, reflects a shift in our understanding of the First World War to a transnational paradigm that recognises the important role of voluntary organisations.     

罗斯福数字图书馆项目——首个实现数字化的总统图书馆

富兰克林·德兰诺·罗斯福图书馆＆博物馆（以下简称罗斯福图书馆）是美国历史上第一个总统图书馆,以其为依托构建的罗斯福数字图书馆（TheFranklinD．Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum’s digital library project）起步于20世纪90年代,是美国历史上首个实现数字化的总统图书馆项目。它向大众提供罗斯福夫妇生活及工作的历史文献,内容丰富,组织科学,设计合理,在数字图书馆历史上具有举足轻重的作用。文章将介绍该项目的历史背景、信息资源组织状况,服务和技术特点,并对该项目进行客观的评价。     

The Rhetoric of War and Remembrance: An Analysis of President Bill Clinton's 1994 D-Day Discourses

This close textual analysis of President Clinton's discourses in ceremonies commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of D-Day, held on June 6, 1994, considers the rhetorical context and discursive strategies of the president on an international stage. It argues that Clinton employed generational comparisons to emphasize the gifts bequeathed by an older generation and the obligation to advance the goals of democracy in a new era. The four speeches analyzed provide evidence of the force of prudential reasoning in commemorative situations.