Education - Annual Reports, 1940-1945

The collection contains the records collected by the War Records Commission. The civilian papers include a diverse array of documents related to federal, state and local governmental agencies, businesses, agricultural groups, civilian defense agencies, welfare agencies, volunteer associations, and industries engaged in war-related activities. Many of the civilian documents are publications obtained from the aforementioned groups or newspaper articles covering war-related activities on the home front. The collection includes information about and documents from dozens of industries, describing defense industry production throughout the state and information about companies’ workforces, specifically the influx of women into industrial jobs. A significant portion of the publications from federal agencies are informational pamphlets from Civilian Defense councils and Civilian Mobilization committees, addressing a range of topics from air warden procedures to maintaining proper nutrition under rationing restrictions. The records and publications of volunteer associations, including the Red Cross, USO, and Boy Scouts, are also a particularly rich portion of the collection. Many of these materials also address social issues, such as racial tensions and civil rights activism, women joining the industrial workforce, and housing.

Military-related records address Maryland military units, Army, Navy, and Coast Guard installations in Maryland, Marylanders of special importance in the Armed Forces, and Maryland troops in the war. Researchers interested in the Army’s Twenty-Ninth Division, which was compromised primarily of Marylanders and Virginians, may find this collection especially useful. There is a significant collection of newspaper articles by Baltimore war correspondents covering combat and troop movements; articles are organized by author in folders titled “War Correspondents.” There is also a published alphabetical register of all Marylanders who served in the war listing name, rank, serial number, branch of service, and the community in which they lived. The original records from which the book was compiled are now housed in the War Memorial Building, Baltimore, Maryland.