The Stars and Stripes: The American Soldiers' Newspaper of World War I, 1918-1919
The Stars and Stripes: The American Soldiers' Newspaper of World War I, 1918-1919 presents a full scan of each issue of the military newspaper that began publication on February 8, 1918, and was published every Friday for 17 months. The eight-page weekly featured war news as well as news from home, sports news, poetry, and cartoons. Extremely popular among enlisted men, who reveled in its often-irreverent articles on military regulations and daily routines, the paper began with an initial printing of 1,000 copies; within a year its circulation had increased to 500,000.
The Stars and Stripes had the appearance of a typical hometown newspaper. Established by experienced journalists who had worked for some of the nation's leading newspapers before the war, the paper relied on enlisted men as writers, editors, and managers and carried stories of primary interest to servicemen of the American Expeditionary Force — the soldiers on the frontlines in France.
The Stars and Stripes documents the experience of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I. Although the paper carried stories of battles and campaigns, articles had to be submitted to military headquarters before they could be published in the paper. Examining news articles reveals what members of the American Expeditionary Force actually read about military battles and campaigns in the last year of "The Great War." The Stars and Stripes reveals the interests and concerns of American soldiers during wartime and how servicemen responded to news from the home front. It provides insight into activities that occupied soldiers' time abroad. Evidence of American attitudes, such as racism, is also apparent in the paper.
The collection may be viewed by columns, full page, or as a text transcription. The transcription is scanned, however, and the narrative is sometimes difficult to decipher.
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Go directly to the collection, The Stars and Stripes: The American Soldiers' Newspaper of World War I, 1918-1919, in American Memory, or view a Summary of Resources related to the collection.
Chronological Thinking: Interpreting and Creating Timelines
The Special Presentation "A Closer Look at The Stars and Stripes" includes a Timeline (1914-1921) of the "Great European War." The author of the timeline chose these events as events important in the history of the war. Choose an event on the timeline that occurred during the months The Stars and Stripes was published (February 1918-June 1919). Look for information about that event in issues of The Stars and Stripes that were published around the time of the event. Examples might be the battles at Cantigny (May 28, 1918); Chateau-Thierry (June 2, 1918); St. Mihiel (September 12, 1918); and the Meusse-Argonne (September 26, 1918). You may also want to do some additional reading on the event in other sources. Then consider the following questions:
- How was the event covered in The Stars and Stripes?
- What was the significance of the event?
- Do you agree with the timeline's author that the event was one of the most important occurrences of the war? Why or why not?
Timelines are selective; innumerable events — both significant and mundane — occur at the same time as the events represented on any timeline. Using the same event you examined above, browse the issues of The Stars and Stripes around the time of the event. Create a timeline for a one-month period that features other events covered in the paper at that time. You may choose to focus on events in the war, day-to-day occurrences in the lives of soldiers, or events on the home front (in the United States), as covered in The Stars and Stripes.