Featured Database

Cinema and media studies includes a dizzying array of subfields: film history, television studies, media studies, critical theory, visual arts, cultural studies, digital culture, game studies, popular culture, and the study of the moving image. Because the boundaries of the discipline are continuously debated and because technology is constantly changing, students and scholars find it difficult if not impossible to keep up with all the literature in their areas of expertise. Even familiar subjects such as a national cinema or the work of a canonical filmmaker are becoming less familiar as new approaches and new research redefine the field. Oxford Bibliographies in Cinema and Media Studies has recruited many of the finest scholars in cinema and media studies to chart a path through the information thicket and toward a carefully organized, thoroughly peer-reviewed account of the most important books, articles, and Web sites.

Walter Havighurst Special Collections Current Exhibit

Stories from people who were children during World War II and the objects in this exhibit animate the past and inform us of a time when war took over daily life. “Retrospect is a very interesting thing,” says Ruthie Kallnder. “At the time I don’t recall any of the information we got as being propaganda,” but the government tried to influence children to make “necessary” sacrifices. Propagandists made the war a battle between good and evil, democracy and fascism. They also asked children to share in the war effort. In response, many children took on more responsibilities. Ruthie explains that boys and girls felt “if that’s what it was going to take” to win they “were willing to do it.” The memories of the people in this exhibit and their wartime actions show the power of propaganda’s messages and its lasting affect on their lives. Propaganda posters, children’s books, and classroom assignments demonstrate how propagandists reached children and involved them in the national war effort.