History of the American West, 1860-1920: Photographs from the Collection of the Denver Public Library

Go directly to the collection, History of the American West, 1860-1920, in American Memory, or view a Summary of Resources related to the collection. Arts and humanities topics include:

Letter Writing and Historical Comprehension | Newspaper Reporting and Historical Comprehension | Short Story Writing | Nature Photography and Image Analysis | Travel Brochure

Newspaper Reporting and Historical Comprehension

Letter from home

Photographs of service men during World War II depict the soldiers in a variety of situations and activities. Search on Italy for scenes of soldiers reading and writing letters, laundering clothes at a public laundry, and serving food to Italian soldiers, as well as fighting in combat.

Assume the role of an American. Use the photographs to write war correspondent stories that tell Americans at home about the war and the experience of American soldiers in Italy. The stories might include interviews with some of the soldiers pictured in the photographs. Alternatively, assume the role of a soldier and write a letter home describing your experience.

Where do the soldiers come from? What kind of training have they had? What have they been doing since their arrival in Italy? What are they doing at the moment? What do they think their orders might be in the near future? How are their immediate objectives related to the war as a whole? How do the soldiers like Italy? How have Italian citizens received them? Do the soldiers feel as though their training prepared them well? What do the soldiers want their loved ones to know?

Firing heavy artillery

"Digging in" under shell-fire

GI laundering with paesana

American soldiers serving food to Italian soldiers

Letter Writing and Historical Comprehension | Newspaper Reporting and Historical Comprehension | Short Story Writing | Nature Photography and Image Analysis | Travel Brochure