Smithsonian's History Explorer Resources Related To "Behind the Designs"

United We Stand Homepage

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 18:16:23 GMT

In this online exhibition, students will analyze authentic magazine covers from July 1942, along with a timeline and brief video news clips in order to understand the importance of the home front during the Second World War. The resource includes a searchable collection of magazine covers from the era and is part of an online exhibition, titled: July 1942: United We Stand. The site explores a campaign during World War II by the nation's magazines to promote national unity, rally support for the war, and celebrate Independence Day.

United We Stand: Magazine Cover Analysis

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 18:16:48 GMT

Students will analyze and interpret magazine covers from July 1942, when some five hundred publications featured the stars and stripes to promote national unity, rally support for the war, and celebrate Independence Day. Students will then create their own magazine covers for the July 1942 "United We Stand" campaign.

Doodles, Drafts and Designs: Industrial Drawings from the Smithsonian

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:01:27 GMT

Students will learn about American industrial creativity by looking at industrial drawings, considering their aesthetic value as well as their importance to the design process. Engineers, inventors, and designers produce drawings as part of their creative process. They draw to work out and refine concepts and details. They draw to persuade. They draw to give direction. And they draw to record their ideas and to learn from others. An innovators gallery allows students to explore the achievements of a variety of American innovators-from designers and engineers to inventors and manufacturers. Students can also view all of the objects included in the exhibition or can examine a selected number of objects that have been placed in thematic categories. A resources page includes an extensive bibliography and a brief list of recommended websites.

Produce For Victory: Posters on the American Home Front (1941-45)

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:03:38 GMT

Students will learn how posters connected the home front with the military front through the use of art intended to advertise the nation's war aims and represent the American ideals of the time. This online resource discusses the images created for and the messages conveyed by famous World War II propaganda posters, as well as the debate over their design. World War II posters helped to mobilize a nation. Inexpensive, accessible, and ever-present, the poster was an ideal agent for making war aims the personal mission of every citizen.

World War II

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 17:24:47 GMT

Students will learn how Americans joined the Allies to defeat Axis militarism and nationalist expansion. Sixteen million Americans donned uniforms in this section of the online exhibition The Price of Freedom: Americans at War. The millions more who stayed home comprised a vast civilian army, mobilized by the government to support the war effort. The world-wide conflict that led to the emergence of the United States as an economic and military superpower is divided into sections that allow students to focus either on a specific aspect of the war, or the conflict as a whole. The sections included are titled: Axis Aggression, America Enters the War, Mobilizing for War, "You're in the Army Now", Battle of the Atlantic, The Mediterranean Theater, Storming Fortress Europe, The Pacific Theater; So Others Might Fight; Morale Boosters and Victory and Peace. A non-flash version of the site is available: World War II.