This exhibition highlights material available at the Library of Congress related to
World War I, including photographs, posters, newspapers, and original documents.

This exhibition examines the upheaval of World War I as Americans confronted it— both at home and abroad. The exhibition considers the debates and struggles that surrounded U.S. engagement; explores U.S. military and home front mobilization and the immensity of industrialized warfare; and touches on the war’s effects, as an international peace settlement was negotiated, national borders were redrawn, and soldiers returned to reintegrate into American society.

This exhibition consists of original materials and oral histories drawn from the Veterans History Project collections at the Library of Congress, including World War I.

Heeding the call from artist Charles Dana Gibson to “Draw ‘til it hurts,” hundreds of leading American artists galvanized public interest in the Great War (1914–1918). Although the United States participated as a direct combatant in World War I from 1917 to 1918, the riveting posters, cartoons, fine art prints, and drawings on display chronicle this massive international conflict from its onset through its aftermath.

(PDF, 38 MB) Second Edition, Ryan J. Moore (2016).

(PDF, 12.9 MB), Ryan J. Moore (2017).

This presentation highlights those declarations that are available at the Law Library of Congress. The information can be accessed in alphabetical order by country. A map illustrating years of entry into the war is also provided. In addition, the presentation includes documents leading to US involvement in the war, culminating in declarations of war against Germany on April 6, 1917, and against Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917.

During the centenary observance of World War I, the Library of Congress has been prioritizing the preservation of films in our collection pertaining to the conflict. Foremost among these is a film called On the Firing Line With the Germans, shot in 1915 by William H. Durborough and his cameraman Irving Ries. The entire film is available for viewing on this site.

This overview of collections in the Prints & Photographs Division that feature images relating to World War I and its aftermath, primarily 1914-20, includes sample images, search tips, and related resources at the Library and elsewhere.

Contains a short essay on U.S. involvement in World War I and links to related documents found within American Memory.

This Primary Source Set includes images, documents, sound files, and analysis tools to help teach about World War I.

The Student Discovery Sets bring together historical artifacts and one-of-a-kind documents on a wide range of topics, including World War I. Interactive tools let students zoom in, draw to highlight details, and conduct open-ended primary source analysis. Full teaching resources are available for each set.

A lesson plan designed for grades 10 through 12, in which students create World War I era newspapers with different perspectives on American involvement in the war.

Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sofia were assassinated in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, setting off a chain of events that would culminate in a world war by August.

On May 7, 1915, a German submarine sank the British ocean liner Lusitania, drowning 1,198 civilians.

The United States formally declared war against Germany and entered the conflict in Europe on April 6, 1917.

On September 12, 1918, the American Expeditionary Forces under commander in chief General John J. Pershing launched their first major offensive in Europe as an independent army.

The Allied powers signed a cease-fire agreement with Germany at Rethondes, France on November 11, 1918, bringing World War I to a close.

On July 28, 1932, the protesters known as the "Bonus Army" gathered in the nation's capital to demand immediate payment of benefits for their military service during World War I.

John J. Pershing, military commander whose brilliant career earned him the title General of the Armies of the United States, died on July 15, 1948. General Pershing was the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces to Europe in World War I.

The Veterans History Project (VHP) collects and preserves stories of wartime service from World War I to the present. This site provides information about how to participate in the project, a database of participating veterans, and digitized materials from the collection. Search the Veterans History Project's database to view over 100 digital collections from World War I veterans. In addition, the VHP has launched a web exhibit that complements the Library of Congress's major exhibition "Echoes of the Great War: American Experiences of World War I". The three-part web companion, “Experiencing War,” will help tell the larger story of the war from the perspective of those who served in it.

Paul Dickson and Thomas Allen presented a talk about their book, the compelling story of World War I veterans whose demands for better treatment became the Bonus Army March.

Jeffrey T. Sammons and John H. Morrow discussed their book "Harlem Rattlers and the Great War: The Undaunted 369th Regiment and the African-American Quest for Equality".

Adriane Lentz-Smith of Duke University and David Cline of Virginia Tech discuss the forgotten history of African-American participation in WWI and Korea, followed by a discussion facilitated by Robert Patrick, director of the Veterans History Project.

Bradford Lee performs a Clausewitzian critical analysis of how the U.S. waged war and negotiated peace from 1917 to 1919, and whether the value of victory was worth the costs of achieving it.

As members of Congress gathered in April 1917 to decide whether to declare war on Germany, some legislators arrived with battle scars. For Civil War veterans, the memory of that catastrophic war would inform their understanding of a new conflict. Historian Mary Dudziak revealed what it would take to generate sufficient support to enter a faraway war: a politics of catastrophe.

Kluge Fellow Geert Buelens address the use of poetry as propaganda, using WWI poems about Belgium by poets such as e.e. cummings, Witter Bynner, Ford Madox Ford and prominent Russian, Italian and Scandinavian poets.

Gerard Toal (Virginia Tech), Paul Miller (McDaniel College) and retired US Ambassador Jacques Paul Klein discuss the territorial and ethnic conflicts that led to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, and how Europe's great powers over-reacted, leading to "the Great War." The speakers then show how the First World War has affected the subsequent history of Europe, through the Second World War, through the Cold War, down to the present. Other presenters included Andras Simonyi, Erdal Trhulj and Jadranka Negodic.

This collection contains cultural heritage materials gathered during the World Digital Library (WDL) project, including thousands of items contributed by partner organizations worldwide as well as content from Library of Congress collections. Launched in 2009, the World Digital Library was a project of the U.S. Library of Congress, with the support of UNESCO, and contributions from libraries, archives, museums, educational institutions, and international organizations around the world. The WDL sought to preserve and share some of the world’s most important cultural objects, increasing access to cultural treasures and significant historical documents to enable discovery, scholarship, and use. The site includes hundreds of items related to World War I.