Yunmeng Du Blog 8: July 1942: United We Stand

This is another online exhibition I found through the National Museum of American History. July 1942: United We Stand presents covers of magazines nationwide with American flags during July 1942, seven months after the United States entered World War II. It was a way for magazine publishers to prove their value to the war effort.

Collection Principles

The National Museum of American History put this virtual exhibition online in order to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the United We Stand campaign. The collection presented here demonstrates how some of the past is saved. Many of the covers were collected in the summer of 1942 by Marguerite Jacquette Storm and then acquired by Peter Gwillim Kreitler in 1999. As the home of the Star-Spangled Banner, the National Museum of American History is a place to explore the history of the national symbol and the ideals for which it stands.

Metadata

Each cover of a magazine has been assigned rich metadata such as magazine title, artist, publisher, date and credit, which means the collection where a particular magazine cover has been selected. All of the images for covers have been classified under different categories or sub-categories including themes, magazine subjects, etc. A powerful search engine embedded into this collection provides a free-text search box as well as a set of advanced search options on the same page, which allows visitors to search by title, theme, magazine subject and type of prize the cover design earned.

Object Characteristics

It is obviously that this collection of magazine covers has been well analyzed and organized. As a result, the corresponding virtual exhibition encompasses rich educational content, plenty of view options as well as helpful search functions. The navigation bar standing on the left side of each web page is served just like the table of content of a book for this collection. By clicking through the labels on the navigation bar, it gives me a feel of reading through a pamphlet or a book about this exhibition. Each theme as well as its sub-titles has been fully discussed along with respective images derived from the collection. This exhibition serves as a very good example of teaching and educating visitors with knowledge of the role of magazine publishing community during World War II around 1942.

Intended Audience

As it is stated on the introduction page of this exhibition, the National Museum of American History provides this exhibition in order to let the visitors “enjoy touring the virtual exhibition, and we also invite you to visite the Museum, where nearly one hundred original flag covers will be on view from March 22 to October 27, 2002”. July 1942: United We Stand is an extension of an onsite exhibition in the museum. All visitors who are either planning to visit the museum or browsing its website are intended audience for this exhibition.