Paul W. Knauf, Jr. World War II photograph collection

The Paul W. Knauf, Jr. World War II photograph collection consists of seventy-one black and white photographs depicting events in the European Theater of Operations from 1943 through 1945. In addition to the photographs, the collection also includes newspapers, a certificate from the Bell Telephone Laboratories School for War Training, and an issue of the publication "Army Talks." The photographs and supplementary material housed in this collection were displayed at an exhibit at the Drexel University Musuem entitled "Images for the Folks Back Home: U.S. Military Photographs of World War II and their Technology." This exhibit was on display from May 2 to October 14, 1988, and a catalog is available.

The collection has been divided into two series by material type. The first series, Series I. Supporting Documents, includes all of the non-photographic items found in the collection. These items provide some background on the period and insight into the life of Paul W. Knauf, Jr., who was stationed in London from 1943 until the conclusion of the war with the U.S. Army’s 805th Signal Service Company. Included in this series are Knauf’s 1943 certificate from the Bell Telephone Laboratories School for War Training, two issues of London newspapers ( The People and Evening Standard from April 29 and May 8, 1944); two reprints of American newspapers (the Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Times both from June 8, 1944), and one issue of the Army publication "Army Talks." The London newspapers were presumably obtained by Knauf while he was overseas and saved due to their significance as papers announcing the end of the war in Europe. The American newspaper reprints, most likely printed from microfilm and taped together long after the end of the war (perhaps at the time of the 1988 Drexel University Museum exhibit), contain articles about the D-Day invasion. These articles are accompanied by D-Day photographs that were transmitted to America by the radio telephotograph process; copies of the photographs appearing with these articles are housed in Series II. Photographs.

Series II. Photographs includes seventy-one black and white photographs. All of these photographs were kept by Knauf following the conclusion of the war. Fifteen of the seventy-one photographs were created via the Army’s radio telephotograph process. These photos are electronically-transmitted facsimiles of original photographs and are stamped on the back with the designation "Official Signal Corps Radio-telephoto, Please Give Credit." Additionally, the captions for these photographs are embedded into the photo. The telephotographs are distorted to varying degrees as a result of the transmission process. Most notable are horizontal white lines across the images, and a slightly poorer overall image quality. Photos which were created in this manner bear the designation "Electronically-transmitted copy" within the item description notes found at the conclusion of this finding aid.

The remainder of the seventy-one photographs are "traditional" black and white photographs. The vast majority of these photographs originally had paper captions affixed to them with glue or tape. Most photograph captions included a heading such as "ETO HQ 44 6568 Murray (5) 4 July 44." This string of letters and numbers let the recipient of the photograph know that the photograph was taken in the European Theater of Operations (ETO), Headquaters (HQ), in 1944 (44), the negative number (6568), the cameraman (Murray), the area in Europe where the photo was shot (5), and the processing date (July 4, 1944). These paper captions have been removed and placed above the photographs in mylar sleeves. The captions provide very valuable information about both the content of the image as well as the source of the photograph. Most likely these captions were affixed to the photographs prior to transmission via the facsimile machine so that the recipient of the facsimile had all the necessary information about the image. The majority of the photograph captions include a statement that reads "Signal Corps Radio Tele-Photograph from London." This would seem to imply that most of the photographs housed in this collection are originals that were fed through the facsimile machine in London and sent abroad.

In addition to the paper captions affixed to the front of the photos, most of the original photographs also have captions, stamps, and handwritten comments on their reverse sides. These captions and comments can be very useful in illustrating how captions were changed or corrected by the censors prior to the photo being released for publication. Many photos have stamps on the reverse side indicating when the censor released the photo for publication and the initials of the censor.

The events depicted in the photographs vary, but they all hail from the European Theater of Operations and were all taken sometime between December 1943 and March 1945. Many of the photographs depict the events leading up to and following the D-Day invasion. Several additional photographs depict women from the Women’s Army Corps, African American soldiers, and various forms of entertainment for the troops. Notable individuals pictured in the photographs include Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, General James G. Doolittle, General Bernard Montgomery, Queen Elizabeth and King George VI, Lord Louis Mountbatten, and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson.

A complete list of the photographs housed in the collection can be found in the contents section of this finding aid.