A Cultural Arsenal for Democracy: The World War II Work of US Museums

244 Pages·2022·6.415 MB·English

by  Clarissa J. Ceglio

A C U L T U R A L A R S E N A L
F O R D E M O C R A C Y
The World War II Work of US Museums
C L A R I S S A J . C E G L I O
This page intentionally left blank
A CULTURAL ARSENAL FOR DEMOCRACY
a volume in the series
Public History in Historical Perspective
edited by
Marla R. Miller
A C U L T U R A L A R S E N A L
F O R D E M O C R A C Y
The World War II Work of US Museums
CLARISSA J. CEGLIO
University of Massachusetts Press
amherst and boston
Copyright © 2022 by University of Massachusetts Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN 978- 1- 62534- 625- 4 (paper); 624- 7 (hardcover)
Designed by Sally Nichols
Set in Filosofia
Printed and bound by Books International, Inc
Cover design by Frank Gutbrod
Cover art: Know Your United Nations at the Brooklyn Museum
(September 16, 1947– November 23, 1947), UN Photo/Kari Berggrav.
Courtesy of the United Nations Photo Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Names: Ceglio, Clarissa J., 1962–a uthor. 
Title: A cultural arsenal for democracy : the World War II work of U.S.
museums / Clarissa J. Ceglio. 
Description: Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, [2022] | Series:
Public history in historical perspective | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021017193 (print) | LCCN 2021017194 (ebook) | ISBN
9781625346247 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781625346254 (paperback) | ISBN
9781613769003 (ebook) | ISBN 9781613769010 (ebook) 
Subjects: LCSH: World War, 1939–1 945— Museums—U nited States. |
Museums— Social aspects— United States— History— 20th century. |
Museums— Educational aspects— United States— History— 20th century. |
Public history— United States— History— 20th century. | World War,
1939– 1945— Propaganda. | Propaganda, American—H istory— 20th century. |
World War, 1939–1 945— Social aspects— United States.
Classification: LCC D733.U6 C45 2022 (print) | LCC D733.U6 (ebook) | DDC
940.53/73— dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021017193
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021017194
British Library Cataloguing-i n- Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Portions of chapter 1 were previously published as “Imperfectly Progressive: The Social Mission of
U.S. Museums in the 1930s,” in Radical Roots: Public History and a Tradition of Social Justice Activism,
edited by Denise Meringolo (Amherst: Amherst College Press, 2021), 363–9 3.
To John Cosimo, my truly one and only
AMDG
This page intentionally left blank
CONTENTS
Preface ix
introduction
The American Museum as Social Instrument
1
chapter one
Toward a Material Rhetoric of Social Instrumentality
16
chapter two
Materializing the Good Neighborhood
The Exhibitionary Network and Hemispheric Citizenship
40
chapter three
War Comes to the Museum
70
chapter four
Witnessing War Fare
The Construction of Home- Front Citizenship
93
chapter five
Gateways to Global Citizenship in a Postwar World
129
conclusion
Museum Stories, Old and New
159
Notes 173
Index 211
vii
This page intentionally left blank