Abstract
In 2014, upon the centennial of the outbreak of World War I, the National Archives initiated a systematic effort to restore and reorganize two major motion picture collections capturing the tumultuous era. The 111-H series, which holds 470 titles created by the Army Signal Corps and offers extremely detailed corresponding metadata, reflects a key goal of the unit—to create a vast and unflinching historical account for posterity. Alternatively, the 660 titles of the CBS-WWI collection, gathered a half century after the war from 26 international film archives to make CBS’s 1964 World War One television program, signify an attempt to retrospectively write that history. In recounting the story behind the creation of each collection, delineating their recurring themes, and analyzing the series’ two models of sight—looking upon and looking back; making and remaking history—this paper reconsiders how we have collectively mapped the history of the Great War. Furthermore, this paper argues, the tools and platforms of the Media Ecology Project provide a productive means to place these series’ two historiographic perspectives in direct dialogue, exploring how public memory has been and may be shaped.
Recommended Citation
Vukoder, Bret
(2024)
"Two Ways of Memory: The Signal Corps and CBS World War I Motion Picture Collections at the National Archives,"
The Journal of e-Media Studies: Vol. 7:
Iss.
1, Article 9.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1349/PS1.1938-6060.A.502
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/joems/vol7/iss1/9
Figure 1 (Vukoder, Two Ways).png (854 kB)
Figure 1. Summary of the National Archives’ acquisition of the 111-H Signal Corps Collection. June 13, 1940 [Source: “111 H Accession File,” NARA 111-H]
Figure 2 (Vukoder, Two Ways).png (241 kB)
Figure 2. CBS-WWI Index, excerpt. An excerpt from the CBS index, listing the NARA identification number, the archive from which the film was sourced, summaries of varying detail, and footage length. In addition, we can often see the specific World War One episode to which the footage was assigned. [Source: NARA CBS-CBS-WWI “Index” and “Box Lists and Descriptions 1 to 663”]
Figure 3 (Vukoder, Two Ways).png (399 kB)
Figure 3. Source Archives for CBS-WWI Collection. This table shows the number of titles coming from each of the various film archives from which the CBS-WWI collection was sourced (660 total titles). [Credit: Amanda Luby for analysis and visualization]
Figure 4 (Vukoder, Two Ways).png (675 kB)
Figure 4. Evidence of CBS selection of scenes from the CBS-WWI collection for use in World War One episodes. This footage was assigned to three separate World War One episode titles: “Over Here,” “Postwar,” and “Over There.” This excerpt also reveals a footage provenance especially relevant to this article, showing how the entry CBS-WWI-319 drew its footage from the National Archives in 1964, specifically from reel 1 of 111-H-1107 in the Signal Corps holdings. [Source: NARA CBS-CBS-WWI, “Box List and Descriptions, 1- 663”]
Figure 5 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1844 kB)
Figure 5. Return and Parade of the 27th Division [1919] selected images and corresponding descriptions in paper trail. Top left: A grand and perhaps hyperbolic description of the New York City parade; bottom left: bird’s-eye shot of the parade going through the “Arch of Victory;” center: colorful language describing a caisson honoring the dead soldiers; bottom center: image of the flower-draped caisson; top right: a summary of shots and brief note of the cinematographic conditions; bottom right: a shot from one of the “scenes photographed against the sun.” [Source: NARA 111-h-1183]
Figure 6 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1057 kB)
Figure 6. Photographic Activities of the Signal Corps A.E.F., 1917—1918 (1918), selected images. [Source: NARA 111-h-1400]
Figure 7 (Vukoder, Two Ways).png (916 kB)
Figure 7. Draft and Mobilization Activities (1917), selected image. [Source: NARA 111-h-1107]
Figure 8 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1745 kB)
Figure 8. Manufacture of Military Aeroplanes, 1917—1918 (1918) [left images] and Manufacture of Gas Masks (1918) [right images]. When juxtaposed alongside one another, the films’ images reveal a similar manufacturing sequence but evoke quite different tones. [Sources: NARA 111-h-1174 and 111-h-1204]
Figure 9 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1845 kB)
Figure 9. [from left to right] Gas Alarm (ca. 1918), Leave Activities in the A.E.F. (1919), The Battle of Matz, June 9—13, 1918 (1918), selected images. [left top] “What the sentry sees”; [left center] “Fatigue party caught by gas cloud”; [left bottom] “Battn. Commander leaves dug out during gas attack” [Source: NARA 111-h-1121]; [right top] a “party of American soldiers…standing on the sea-wall that was built by Napoleon”; [center bottom] “Enjoying the outlook from the ocean side of ‘Villa Marbella’” [Source: 111-h-1338, r1]; [right center and bottom] Animations revisiting strategies in the Battle of Matz [Source: 111-h- 1146].
Figure 11 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1485 kB)
Figure 10. Liberty Loan Drives (1918), selected images. Actors Sessue Hayakama and Blanche Sweet, plus three young children, rally a large crowd to buy bonds at a Liberty Loan Drive in Hollywood, California. [Source: 111-h-1133 r3]
Figure 12 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1872 kB)
Figure 11. Tour of the United States by Marshall Foch (1921), selected images. [clockwise from top-left] Foch with General Pershing in New York City; visiting the White House; receiving an honorary degree at Georgetown University; participating in a Civil War reenactment in Richmond, Virginia; on the field at a Yale University football game; honoring Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois; observing the opening ceremony at a new WWI memorial in Kansas City, Missouri; looking out over the Grand Canyon in Arizona; speaking to a Sioux leader in Bismarck, North Dakota; standing at the back of his personal train taking him across the country; and gazing out the window at the end of his journey. [Source: NARA 111-h-1113]
Figure 13 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1577 kB)
Figure 12. Activities of Graves Registration Service, France, 1919—1920 (1920), selected images. [clockwise from top-left] “Panorama view of the Muse-Argonne Cemetery;” “Two men disinterring the body of a soldier and placing it on a stretcher;” “Wooden coffin being chopped from around the body;” “Remains being wrapped in a blanket;” and “Barges loaded with bodies pass in foreground.” [Source: NARA 111-h-1208].
Figure 14 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1658 kB)
Figure 13. Training of Colored Troops (1918), selected images. [clockwise from top-left] A staged sequence in which a man and his family receive notice of his selection for military service; Soldiers doing “bayonet drills;” A man dances along to the music of the “Receiving Station Jazz Band;” A group of officers talking; “A staged sequence in which family members of Edward Johnson of the 301st Engineer Corps receive news that he has arrived overseas.” [Source: NARA 111-h-1211]
Figure 16 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1835 kB)
Figure 14. “The Famous Fourth”, no. 546 of The Big Picture (ca. 1961), selected images. [left] Title image from the U.S. Army Signal Corps show, The Big Picture; [right] documentary footage of the Army’s Fourth Infantry Division, likely from WWII. [Source: NARA 111-TV- 546]
Figure 18 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1640 kB)
Figure 15. CBS-WWI nos. 613, 96, 653, and 649; selected images. [clockwise from top-left] Likely during the Bosnian Crisis of 1908, a “sailor” in front of the parliament building in Budapest yells among other Hungarian protesters on October 27, 1908 [Source: NARA CBS-CBS-WWI-613]; A member of Sinn Féin poses with a gun [Source: NARA CBS-CBS- WWI-96]; A tram and motorcar pass by the opera house in Vienna, Austria [Source: NARA CBS-CBS- WWI-653]; People visit the “Russian Fair” at a festival in Malmo, Sweden in 1914 [Source: NARA CBS-CBS-WWI-649].
Figure 16 - (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1752 kB)
Figure 16. Description of a shot from a 111-H file and, beneath it, the graphic annotation made using SAT.
Figure 1. Summary of the National Archives’ acquisition of the 111-H Signal Corps Collection. June 13, 1940 [Source: “111 H Accession File,” NARA 111-H]
Figure 2 (Vukoder, Two Ways).png (241 kB)
Figure 2. CBS-WWI Index, excerpt. An excerpt from the CBS index, listing the NARA identification number, the archive from which the film was sourced, summaries of varying detail, and footage length. In addition, we can often see the specific World War One episode to which the footage was assigned. [Source: NARA CBS-CBS-WWI “Index” and “Box Lists and Descriptions 1 to 663”]
Figure 3 (Vukoder, Two Ways).png (399 kB)
Figure 3. Source Archives for CBS-WWI Collection. This table shows the number of titles coming from each of the various film archives from which the CBS-WWI collection was sourced (660 total titles). [Credit: Amanda Luby for analysis and visualization]
Figure 4 (Vukoder, Two Ways).png (675 kB)
Figure 4. Evidence of CBS selection of scenes from the CBS-WWI collection for use in World War One episodes. This footage was assigned to three separate World War One episode titles: “Over Here,” “Postwar,” and “Over There.” This excerpt also reveals a footage provenance especially relevant to this article, showing how the entry CBS-WWI-319 drew its footage from the National Archives in 1964, specifically from reel 1 of 111-H-1107 in the Signal Corps holdings. [Source: NARA CBS-CBS-WWI, “Box List and Descriptions, 1- 663”]
Figure 5 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1844 kB)
Figure 5. Return and Parade of the 27th Division [1919] selected images and corresponding descriptions in paper trail. Top left: A grand and perhaps hyperbolic description of the New York City parade; bottom left: bird’s-eye shot of the parade going through the “Arch of Victory;” center: colorful language describing a caisson honoring the dead soldiers; bottom center: image of the flower-draped caisson; top right: a summary of shots and brief note of the cinematographic conditions; bottom right: a shot from one of the “scenes photographed against the sun.” [Source: NARA 111-h-1183]
Figure 6 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1057 kB)
Figure 6. Photographic Activities of the Signal Corps A.E.F., 1917—1918 (1918), selected images. [Source: NARA 111-h-1400]
Figure 7 (Vukoder, Two Ways).png (916 kB)
Figure 7. Draft and Mobilization Activities (1917), selected image. [Source: NARA 111-h-1107]
Figure 8 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1745 kB)
Figure 8. Manufacture of Military Aeroplanes, 1917—1918 (1918) [left images] and Manufacture of Gas Masks (1918) [right images]. When juxtaposed alongside one another, the films’ images reveal a similar manufacturing sequence but evoke quite different tones. [Sources: NARA 111-h-1174 and 111-h-1204]
Figure 9 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1845 kB)
Figure 9. [from left to right] Gas Alarm (ca. 1918), Leave Activities in the A.E.F. (1919), The Battle of Matz, June 9—13, 1918 (1918), selected images. [left top] “What the sentry sees”; [left center] “Fatigue party caught by gas cloud”; [left bottom] “Battn. Commander leaves dug out during gas attack” [Source: NARA 111-h-1121]; [right top] a “party of American soldiers…standing on the sea-wall that was built by Napoleon”; [center bottom] “Enjoying the outlook from the ocean side of ‘Villa Marbella’” [Source: 111-h-1338, r1]; [right center and bottom] Animations revisiting strategies in the Battle of Matz [Source: 111-h- 1146].
Figure 11 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1485 kB)
Figure 10. Liberty Loan Drives (1918), selected images. Actors Sessue Hayakama and Blanche Sweet, plus three young children, rally a large crowd to buy bonds at a Liberty Loan Drive in Hollywood, California. [Source: 111-h-1133 r3]
Figure 12 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1872 kB)
Figure 11. Tour of the United States by Marshall Foch (1921), selected images. [clockwise from top-left] Foch with General Pershing in New York City; visiting the White House; receiving an honorary degree at Georgetown University; participating in a Civil War reenactment in Richmond, Virginia; on the field at a Yale University football game; honoring Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois; observing the opening ceremony at a new WWI memorial in Kansas City, Missouri; looking out over the Grand Canyon in Arizona; speaking to a Sioux leader in Bismarck, North Dakota; standing at the back of his personal train taking him across the country; and gazing out the window at the end of his journey. [Source: NARA 111-h-1113]
Figure 13 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1577 kB)
Figure 12. Activities of Graves Registration Service, France, 1919—1920 (1920), selected images. [clockwise from top-left] “Panorama view of the Muse-Argonne Cemetery;” “Two men disinterring the body of a soldier and placing it on a stretcher;” “Wooden coffin being chopped from around the body;” “Remains being wrapped in a blanket;” and “Barges loaded with bodies pass in foreground.” [Source: NARA 111-h-1208].
Figure 14 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1658 kB)
Figure 13. Training of Colored Troops (1918), selected images. [clockwise from top-left] A staged sequence in which a man and his family receive notice of his selection for military service; Soldiers doing “bayonet drills;” A man dances along to the music of the “Receiving Station Jazz Band;” A group of officers talking; “A staged sequence in which family members of Edward Johnson of the 301st Engineer Corps receive news that he has arrived overseas.” [Source: NARA 111-h-1211]
Figure 16 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1835 kB)
Figure 14. “The Famous Fourth”, no. 546 of The Big Picture (ca. 1961), selected images. [left] Title image from the U.S. Army Signal Corps show, The Big Picture; [right] documentary footage of the Army’s Fourth Infantry Division, likely from WWII. [Source: NARA 111-TV- 546]
Figure 18 (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1640 kB)
Figure 15. CBS-WWI nos. 613, 96, 653, and 649; selected images. [clockwise from top-left] Likely during the Bosnian Crisis of 1908, a “sailor” in front of the parliament building in Budapest yells among other Hungarian protesters on October 27, 1908 [Source: NARA CBS-CBS-WWI-613]; A member of Sinn Féin poses with a gun [Source: NARA CBS-CBS- WWI-96]; A tram and motorcar pass by the opera house in Vienna, Austria [Source: NARA CBS-CBS- WWI-653]; People visit the “Russian Fair” at a festival in Malmo, Sweden in 1914 [Source: NARA CBS-CBS-WWI-649].
Figure 16 - (Vukoder, Two Ways).jpg (1752 kB)
Figure 16. Description of a shot from a 111-H file and, beneath it, the graphic annotation made using SAT.
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