Documents

Item — Box: 3434

Scope and Contents note

From the Collection: This collection consists of five documents on Collective Protection probably produced by the “civil defense” type authorities in Montgomery, Alabama, and Birmingham, Alabama, shortly after the United States entered World War II. A comment in one of the documents which helps date these articles, states that “Recent experience in England has shown that air raid casualties among the civilian population are in almost direct proportions to the extent to which the people fail to take cover and expose themselves during air attacks.” Another states, “Based on the President’s directives, there was established the ‘FBI Law Enforcement Officers Mobilization Plan for National Defense,’ which has been in operation many months.”

These documents cover: collective protection (home protection, types of shelters, gas-proofing and gas masks, fire precautions, and lighting restrictions); the duties of emergency auxiliary police officers (including what buildings and industries will probably be the most likely to be attacked by bombing raids or sabotage, looting during black-out periods, fires due to incendiary bombs, etc.); types of espionage (commercial, industrial, agricultural, labor, financial, utility, military, and diplomatic) and the types of espionage agents; war gases (the types of gases and their effects); and lighting restrictions and blackouts.

Dates

1941-1945

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Due to the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access to certain materials may require additional advance notice.