Visual Sources

A significant proportion of the material used during this course will consist of visual sources such as photographs and posters.  They are an integral part of the course material and must be given the same attention and analysis that would be given to any written document.  Every visual source is constructed of a smaller thumbnail image and a larger image - be certain to click on the thumbnail in order to view the larger image.

Just as for every reading in this course, you should also make notes on all the images that you view.  In the case of the images you should be analyzing both the visual image itself and any accompanying text.  There are three things in particular that you should do for every image:

• For the first time that you view the image, do not analyze the content, but instead assess your initial response.  When you first viewed the image, what was your first reaction?  Why?  What emotion(s) did the image evoke?  How different would your response be, if any different, from someone viewing the same image during the war?
• Secondly, assess the image itself in terms of content, visual impact, and intent.  In doing so, attempt to make the assessment in the context of the time in which it first appeared.  For example, why was that particular image created as it was?  What was its intent?  What emotions was it designed to evoke?  And overall, what do we as historians learn about the war and/or the society which produced that image?
• Thirdly, assess any accompanying text on the same criteria as you have for the visual aspect above.

It is important that you keep notes for all the images that we view this term as we will throughout the term be referring back to materials examined earlier in the course.  While we will in the course examine a few major themes, those themes do not fit neatly into one night or one week.  The materials that we examine build upon each other, and what is important is being able to make the interconnections between the materials throughout the course as a whole.