World War I Era Publications and Propaganda: Codman Collection

Materials in the collection show an active campaign to educate persons on military and political aspects of the First World War. Much of the material is designed to portray the war effort of the German and Central Powers in a negative light and the people (primarily the Belgians) as victims of German aggression. A common symbol is the barbarian Hun.

Primarily, the country of origin is used to designate the series breakdowns with an additional series made up of cartoons and another of postcards and miscellanea. Assuming that the material was all gathered in the U.S., much of the material from Great Britain may have been exported for sale in the U.S. or U.S. publishers may have reprinted materials.

The U.K. materials are divided by publication size as the size. This was done partially for ease of storage but it also demonstrates an aspect to the publishers' marketing of the material. Smaller publications generally have a one penny cover price (depending on the number of pages) and the tone of the material in many cases appears more provocative.

Most notable in the cartoon series is the book: Swollen Headed William which portays the Kaiser with a large swollen head.

Notable in the miscellanea series are two hand painted postcards, presumably from the First World War of Belgian man on horseback with his country's flag and another with a Russian man on horsebacke with his flag. In addition, in the collection's few non-WWI items, the series contains 3 volumes of the Russo-Japanese War Fully Illustrated published by Kinkodo Co., Tokyo.