Citation: Federal Art Project, Sponsor. “Censored” Let’s censor our conversation about the war. Print on Poster. Library of Congress. 1941. https://www.loc.gov/item/98518277/
This particular propaganda poster has to do with mail censorship, specifically of military mail and as mentioned on the poster, conversation about the war in general. It serves to show how important the matter of mail censorship was at the time, much like the firsthand account of John Dolin in the letter, mentioning how the censorship rules in place keep him from even mentioning seemingly mundane things like the weather.
Citation: Sundin, Sarah. "Today in World War II History-- Nov. 25, 1943." Sarah Sundin. November 25, 2018. www.sarahsundin.com/today-in-world-war-ii-history-nov-25-1943/
This particular letter from John is from November 25th, 1943; what was going on in the world on that particular day? According to an article by Sarah Sundin, quite a lot; it was Thanksgiving, which is not mentioned in the letter but is still worth noting, as well as the Battle of Cape St. George which went on into the following day. This article also includes a Thanksgiving menu from the U.S.S. Wake Island escort carrier, in which items such as a puree of turkey soup and mixed hard candy are listed among others.
The following object description information includes basic elements from the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). An additional notes field is included to list dates from the actual letter, envelope postmark locations, and any other identifying details.
While John specifically mentions several things that he cannot disclose to Margaret due to military censorship such as the weather as well as where exactly he is located or for how long, what other things would have been censored in the letters of service members at the time? Could they mention if they were near a body of water? Could they mention any specific sorts of plants or animals in the surrounding area?
John mentions that Christmas will likely be very unusual for him, but also says that he can't say why that is. This could be as simple as him just not knowing what his Christmas will look like considering his deployment, but could it be more than that? Could he be not wanting to give any details regarding where he will be or what he will be doing due to censorship? Could it have to do with his future deployment in England, not too far away from the time this letter was written?
Citation: "Censors and Propagandists." Wall Street Journal (1923-), Nov 16, 1943. https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/censors-propagandists/docview/131460475/se-2.
Article from the Wall Street Journal discussing censorship, specifically military censorship. The author gives their own insight and opinion on the matter.
Citation: “Censored.” Directed by Frank Tashlin. July 17, 1944. Cartoon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHzz0eYC63s
This is one of several adult cartoon shorts featuring the character of Private SNAFU from the time of World War Two which were intended to be shown to troops with the intention of educating and entertaining them by showing what not to do, and this particular short focuses on mail censorship.
