Process Paper
The topic chosen, � A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words: The Artwork of World War I, relates to this year's theme in many ways. The theme of this year's History Day Project is �Communication in History: The Key to Understanding�. This topic covers how the issues and events of WWI were communicated to people through artwork. This mode of communication led to the understanding of the events that took place during WWI. The topic investigated was first researched on the Internet sites, Yahoo Search and the Smithsonian website. Next, books from the Temecula Library were used as secondary sources to gather information. The online encyclopedia gave facts about WWI artwork including posters. These sources gave me information on the how artwork and posters communicated to the world what was happening during the war, which allowed people to have a better understanding of the effects of war. The sources also gave information about the political standings in society during the time the pictures were drawn and how they affected people, and depicted the political standings of WWI. The books used for research gave examples of different points of view that the drawings depicted. Various websites also shared information regarding the images and reasons behind the image. The encyclopedia sources confirmed the facts and gave information on the events that took place during WWI. All these sources gave insights on how the artwork prompted differences of opinions for many people that were trying to gain an understanding of what was happening during the war. They gave insight regarding how artwork helped create an image of views and ideas for people. It was the interpretation of these images which brought up controversial issues though. The primary sources which were obtained from the National Archive documents, Historical Society accounts and the Smithsonian Institution, confirmed and gave more insight on the information received. Additional primary sources included e-mail contacts to experts and professional librarians at the Smithsonian Institute, the National Library of Congress, the National Archives and the National Historian Society. Also an interview was arranged with a relative of a WWI soldier during the war. These primary sources balanced out the opinions of the artwork and gave more information on how these images made such a significance to the interpretation of WWI, by capturing the essence of what was actually going on during that time. After reviewing the facts about WWI and the impact that artwork had on people, this led to the conclusion that artwork played a significant role in communicating to everyone the events that transpired during WWI. It affected the people who viewed them by giving them a point of view from which an artist saw, but most of the time it was a biased opinion because it was what the government wanted the people to see. This understanding and interpretation about the war through artwork was a way to record history that was happening around them, and to keep the memory of what had taken place remembered.
Back Home
Introduction
Artists and Propaganda Leaders of World War I
Posters of World War I
Impact of World War I Artwork
Background Information on World War I
Effects of World War I Posters and Artwork
Conclusion
Annonated Bibliography
