Learning Resource Center: World War I Materials: Subject Guide

About World War I Materials in the USU Archives

The USU Archives has a number of items relating to World War I across various collections. These materials include U.S. Government publications about hospitals, books about shell shock, contemporary newspapers, and numerous books about various subjects relating to medicine and World War I.

World War I Materials

Manuscript Collection

The World War I Collection, 1917-1920, includes material produced during the course of World War I, including a summary of casualties in the American Expeditionary Forces and four newspapers from the WWI era. The finding aid for this collection is linked below.

World War I Collection

Rare Book Collection

The links below are a selection of the books on this topic that have been scanned by the Archives. Other volumes can be viewed and downloaded by searching the Archives' digital collection under the heading Military Medical History Documents, and the rare book collection can be searched via the LRC Catalog.

History of United States Army Base Hospital No. 20 : organized at the University of Pennsylvania

Report on the medico-military aspects of the European War from observations taken behind the allied armies in France

"Album de la guerre": five hundred photographs, seventy drawings and thirteen articles by members of Base hospital no. 4

LRC History Collection

The LRC History Collection also contains material related to World War I. The catalog records of selected materials are linked below. Additional material on this topic can be located by searching the LRC Catalog.

Madness and the military : Australia's experience of the Great War

Glimpsing modernity : military medicine in World War I

African American doctors of World War I : the lives of 104 volunteers

Before my helpless sight : suffering, dying, and military medicine on the Western Front, 1914-1918

Healing the nation : soldiers and the culture of caregiving in Britain during the Great War

Treating the trauma of the Great War : soldiers, civilians, and psychiatry in France, 1914-1940

Shell Shock Rare Books

This collection includes books scanned from the USU Archives' rare book collection from the World War I era. These books examine a soldier's physical or psychological reaction to the trauma of combat. During the World War I era, this disorder was called shell shock. Today, it is referred to as combat stress reaction (CSR), a precursor to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Rare Book Collection

War neuroses

The care and treatment of mental diseases and war neuroses ("shell shock") in the British Army

Shell-shock and other neuropsychiatric problems presented in five hundred and eighty-nine case histories from the war literature, 1914-1918

Kriegs-neurosen und "psychisches trauma" : ihre gegenseitigen Beziehungen dargestellt auf Grund psycho-analytischer, hypnotischer Studien

USU Archives Subject Guides

USU Historical Materials The University Collections in the USU Archives contain a multitude of material relating to the founding, growth, and operations of the Uniformed Services University. This subject guide provides a brief overview of the University's history with a sample of corresponding documents.
American Civil War Materials The USU Archives has a number of items relating to the American Civil War across various collections. These materials include publications and reports by the U.S. Sanitary Commission, memoirs by doctors and nurses, correspondence, and numerous books about various subjects relating to medicine during and after the war.
World War I Materials The USU Archives has a number of items relating to World War I across various collections. These materials include U.S. Government publications about hospitals, books about shell shock, contemporary newspapers, and numerous books about various subjects relating to medicine and World War I.
World War II Materials The USU Archives has a number of items relating to World War II across various collections. These materials include U.S. Government publications dealing with field medicine, reports from the German Medical Consultants Conferences, contemporary reports and publications, and historical accounts.
U.S. Sanitary Commission Materials The U.S. Sanitary Commission was founded in 1861, a private relief agency created to support ill and wounded soldiers of the Union Army during the Civil War. Primarily staffed by volunteers, often women, the Sanitary Commission raised money, made uniforms, collected food and other supplies, and ran hospital ships and soldiers’ homes for the U.S. Army.
Combat Disorders and Field Medicine Materials The USU Archives has a number of items relating to combat disorders and field medicine in both the manuscript and Rare Book collections. Combat disorders are defined by the National Library of Medicine as "Neurotic reactions to unusual, severe, or overwhelming military stress". Field medicine (also called combat casualty care) is the treatment of wounded individuals in areas of combat.
Tropical Medicine Materials Tropical Medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with health issues that are more common or are harder to control in tropical and subtropical regions. Tropical Medicine is a topic of particular importance at USU due to the international nature of military medicine. The USU Archives has a number of items relating to Tropical Medicine across various collections. These materials include U.S. government publications, rare books, papers by USU faculty and students, and historical publications.
Medicine in Extreme Cold Weather The USU Archives has a number of items relating to medicine in extreme cold weather in both the manuscript and rare book collections. Exploration and scientific research have taken people to the coldest places on Earth, requiring the study and development of the effects of extreme cold on the human body, and what prevention and treatment can be used in these circumstances.
Manuals and Instructions in the USU Archives The USU Archives has a number of U.S. Government and military bulletins, guidebooks, and manuals in its collections, ranging from medical officer reference books to aids for using pack animals. A number of these items have been scanned and can be viewed and downloaded via the Archives online collections, while others can be searched via their collection's finding aid and viewed in person.
Women During Wartime The USU Archives has several items relating to women's contributions during wartime. These materials span various collections and include U.S. Government publications, contemporary newspapers, biographies, and memoirs.
Pandemics The USU Archives and the LRC collection have a number of items that relate to both historical and contemporary pandemics. These materials include books, military medical publications, and other items.
Prisoner of War (POW) and Missing in Action (MIA) Materials The USU Archives has a number of items relating to Prisoners of War (POW) and Missing in Action (MIA) in the manuscript and rare book collections. The LRC general and history collections also have a number of related materials.