Footnote.com Launches the Largest Collection of World War II Photos on the Web

The following announcement was written by Footnote.com:

-Tens of thousands of photos and documents are made available for the first time on the web for historians, genealogists and the general public-

Lindon, UT - December 6, 2007 – Footnote.com  today announced the addition of thousands of US Air Force photos to their digital World War II collection. This release coincides with the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor bombing, and contains tens of thousands of original World War II photos and documents from the National Archives.  Among this collection are missing air crew reports, documents from allied military conferences and photos of Japanese air targets.

“They say that a picture is worth a thousand words,” says Russell Wilding, CEO of Footnote.com. “What’s exciting about this collection of photos is they also include captions that tell stories of the people and events in the photos.” 

Footnote.com has added these new pictures and documents as part of a much larger, ongoing effort to preserve the heroic memories and stories of the brave men and women that served in World War II and other wars.

“We are providing priceless content from our archives and libraries that is only a part of a much larger picture,” continued Wilding, “While this is an extensive collection of history, we understand that many people out there have valuable pieces of history in their personal record collections within their own homes.  We encourage everyone to upload their own photos, letters and documents contained in their old shoeboxes.” 

Footnote.com is leading the movement to preserve the documents and stories about World War II and invites everyone to join in this effort. Uploading photos and documents and creating memorial pages is completely free on Footnote.com.  To view samples of these photos and other World War II documents, visit Footnote.com/wwii.php

About Footnote, Inc.
Footnote.com  is a subscription website that features searchable original documents that provide users with an unaltered view of the events, places and people that shaped the American nation and the world. At Footnote.com all are invited to come share, discuss, and collaborate on their discoveries with friends, family, and colleagues.  For more information, visit www.footnote.com.

Comments

[Ben Franklin]

Is it safe to assume that these images and documents pertain to the US Army Air Corps or GHQ Army Air Forces, since the US Air Force didn't exist until 1947, several years after WWII ended?

See:
http://www.aafha.org/aaf_or_aircorps.html

BF

[Betty]

Very good point ! A web site should be accurate when providing data !

My father was in the Army Air Corps and his sister was in the Womens Air Corp during World War II.

http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/brochures/wac/wac.htm

Betty (near Lowell, MA)

[Jim]

I'm glad others noticed this error. Go figure that no one at Footnote (or Dick Eastman) bothered to notice this.

[Beau Sharbrough]

NARA titles are often quite lengthy, and don't lend themselves to an easily scannable list of titles, such as is displayed in the browse at Footnote. The title of this collection of images, according to the National Archives, and is "Black and White and Color Photographs of U.S. Air Force and Predecessor Agencies Activities, Facilities, and Personnel - World War II."

Footnote creates "browse titles" to allow for easy scanning of lists of titles, and chose to refer to these images as "Air Force Photos" in that context. A difference between browse titles and formal titles is common, and is not meant to mislead readers. A single click on a browse title reveals the formal title, and the short description. In a similar case, the Investigative Reports of the Bureau of Investigation are referred to in browse as "FBI Case Files" even though the agency was not known by that name at that time.

Disclosure: I work at Footnote.

[Ryan]

Beau, How many photos does the online collection currently contain? At what rate will you be adding to the photo collection?

[Susan Park]

I have begun putting together a scrapbook of my (deceased) father's WWII memorabelia for my son and grandson. My father, Joseph Moravich, was a waist gunner based at Harrington. From what I can gather from websites such as these and the documents he left, he began with the 801st group, 788th squadron, 8th army at Harrington for his first 35 missions. The remaining 15 missions were with the 2641st Special Group, 859th Squadron, 15th Air Force at Brinsdisi (or Rosignano) in Italy. He was part of the (Albert) Beller Crew and was a S/Sgt when discharged. I have many documents and pictures I'd be willing to share if anyone is interested. I had previously found some websites about this crew that are no longer functional. I have questions about terms that were used if anyone can help me. What were "joes", "containers" and "packages" referring to?

Thank you,

Susan Park