Websites
These are some websites with information about the American home front during World War II. There are also several sites about the home front in Great Britain. Take some time to compare life in Britain to life in America. How did life differ in these two countries?
American Home Front
URL: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwii/ahf/life/index.htm
Scholastic (2008).
How did life in America change after the United States entered WWII? Read an interview with a woman who went from being a student to a worker to help the war effort and about how the war affected Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor. You can also take a tour of an American home. Click on different items in the rooms to learn more about home life during the war!
Children of World War II
URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2children/index.shtml
British Broadcasting Company (2008).
The United States was not the only country whose home life changed during the war. What was life like for kids in Britain during World War II? Check out the activities on this site to get an idea! See what life was like in the home, participate in the "Rationing Challenge", and read the stories of evacuees in letters.
Home Front: 1939-1945
URL: http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/homefront/
The National Archives Learning Curve.
Take a look at different aspects of life at home during World War II, especially the roles of women and spies. You can also see what everyday life was like in Great Britain. Learn about rationing, salvaging scrap metal, women workers, women soldiers, and more!
Home Front... World War II
URL: http://home.freeuk.net/elloughton13/wwar.htm
Snaith Primary School (UK).
This website gives you a look at home life in Great Britain during World War II. Look at the rationing, music, posters, and everyday life of children during this time. How does this compare to home life in the United States?
How America Heard the War
URL: http://www.umkc.edu/lib/spec-col/ww2/warnews/index-txt.htm
Miller Nichols Library.
Listen to sound clips of different radio broadcasts heard by Americans on the home front during World War II. Hear speeches, songs, war reports, news flashes, and more. Remember, families listened to the radio during this time - people did not have televisions! This is the way that people heard most of their news and got their entertainment during the war.
Kids' Views of World War II and the 1940s Era
URL: http://www.usd230.k12.ks.us/espictt/
Educate America (2000).
This site looks at everyday life in America during World War II. It talks about fashion, entertainment, toys and more so you can see what kinds of movies kids like you were watching during this time and what toys they were playing with. It also contains a section called "Do You Know?" that gives interesting and little-known facts about life at home during the war.
Loose Lips Sink Ships
URL: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/lslips.htm
Eyewitness to Hisotry (1997).
Did you know that the government set up guidelines that determined what soldiers could and could not write about in their letters home? This site tells you what the government decided could not be said in letters home or in the event that soldiers were captured by an enemy. You can even see an example of the documents soldiers were given about writing home when they entered the battle area during the war.
On the Home Front: America During World War I and World War II
URL: http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/homefront/index.html
The Learning Page (2003).
Learn what life was like in American during both world wars. You can focus in on World War II or compare the two wars to see how things changed between the wars. This site contains a gallery of images, ranging from posters about volunteer work to patriotic support. Check out the messages that kids like you saw every day during the war and follow the resource links to learn more!
Private Art: WWII Letters To and From Home
URL: http://www.private-art.com/
Private-art.com (2003).
What was it like to have a loved one fighting in the war? How did you communicate with that person? Read these letters to get an idea! They are based off of actual letters written to and from soldiers during World War II. You can select letters by date and read letters to and from Private Art!
World War II Scrapbook
URL: http://omp.ohiolink.edu/OMP/YourScrapbook?scrapid=23105
Ohio Memory.
See images of the American home front during World War II. You can see posters uging Americans to plant Victory Gardens as well as actual photographs of scrap drives. You can also see rationing booklets and cards.
World War II: The Home Front
URL: http://library.thinkquest.org/15511/
Thinkquest (1998).
How did World War II affect those people left in the United States while others were fighting overseas? You can find some answers here! Read a timeline of the war or look at museum artifacts. You can also follow the lives of five families during the 1943-44 school year to see what everyday life was like.
