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"Information Hunters examines the unprecedented American effort to acquire foreign publications and information in World War II Europe. An unlikely band of librarians, scholars, soldiers, and spies went to Europe to collect books and documents to aid the Allies' cause. They travelled to neutral cities to find enemy publications for intelligence analysis and followed advancing armies to capture records in a massive program of confiscation. After the war, they seized Nazi works from bookstores and schools and gather together countless looted Jewish books. Improvising library techniques in wartime conditions, they contributed to Allied intelligence, preserved endangered books, engaged in restitution, and participated in the denazification of book collections. Information Hunters explores what collecting meant to the men and women who embarked on these missions, and how the challenges of a total war led to an intense focus on books and documents. It uncovers the worlds of collecting, in spy-ridden Stockholm and Lisbon, in liberated Paris and devastated Berlin, and in German caves and mineshafts. The wartime collecting missions had lasting effects. They intensified the relationship between libraries and academic institutions, on the one hand, and the government and military, on the other. Book and document acquisition became part of the apparatus of national security, military planning, and postwar reconstruction. These efforts also spurred the development of information science and boosted research libraries' ambitions to be great national repositories for research and the dissemination of knowledge that would support American global leadership, politically and intellectually. military intelligence, librarians, archivists, Library of Congress, Office of Strategic Services."-- While armies have seized enemy records and rare texts as booty throughout history, it was only during World War II that an unlikely band of librarians, archivists, and scholars traveled abroad to collect books and documents to aid the military cause. Galvanized by the events of war into acquiring and preserving the written word, as well as providing critical information for intelligence purposes, these American civilians set off on missions to gather foreign publications and information across Europe. They journeyed to neutral cities in search of enemy texts, followed a step behind advancing armies to capture records, and seized Nazi works from bookstores and schools. When the war ended, they found looted collections hidden in cellars and caves. Their mission was to document, exploit, preserve, and restitute these works, and even, in the case of Nazi literature, to destroy them.In this fascinating account, cultural historian Kathy Peiss reveals how book and document collecting became part of the new apparatus of intelligence and national security, military planning, and postwar reconstruction. Focusing on the ordinary Americans who carried out these missions, she shows how they made decisions on the ground to acquire sources that would be useful in the war zone as well as on the home front.These collecting missions also boosted the postwar ambitions of American research libraries, offering a chance for them to become great international repositories of scientific reports, literature, and historical sources. Not only did their wartime work have lasting implications for academic institutions, foreign-policy making, and national security, it also led to the development of today's essential information science tools.Illuminating the growing global power of the United States in the realms of intelligence and cultural heritage, Peiss tells the story of the men and women who went to Europe to collect and protect books and information and in doing so enriches the debates over the use of data in times of both war and peace.

World War, 1939-1945 --- Books --- Intelligence service --- Acquisitions (Libraries) --- Cultural property --- Librarians --- Confiscations and contributions --- Military intelligence --- History --- Information services. --- Protection --- Destruction and pillage --- United States. --- Library of Congress Mission to Germany. --- World history --- book history --- anno 1930-1939 --- anno 1940-1949 --- 329.17 <43> --- 351.852 --- 7.025.7 --- 940.53 --- Cultural heritage --- Cultural patrimony --- Cultural resources --- Heritage property --- National heritage --- National patrimony --- National treasure --- Patrimony, Cultural --- Treasure, National --- Property --- World Heritage areas --- Acquisition of library materials --- Book buying (Libraries) --- Libraries --- Library acquisitions --- Technical services (Libraries) --- Collection development (Libraries) --- Counter intelligence --- Counterespionage --- Counterintelligence --- Intelligence community --- Secret police (Intelligence service) --- Public administration --- Research --- Disinformation --- Secret service --- Library materials --- Publications --- Bibliography --- Cataloging --- International Standard Book Numbers --- 940.53 Geschiedenis van Europa: Tweede Wereldoorlog--(1939-1945) (algemeen) --- Geschiedenis van Europa: Tweede Wereldoorlog--(1939-1945) (algemeen) --- 7.025.7 Kunstwerken: verlies, teloorgang door o.a. diefstal of tijdens transport --- Kunstwerken: verlies, teloorgang door o.a. diefstal of tijdens transport --- 351.852 Overheidstaken, administratieve maatregelen i.v.m. musea, verzamelingen, bibliotheken, archieven --- Overheidstaken, administratieve maatregelen i.v.m. musea, verzamelingen, bibliotheken, archieven --- 329.17 <43> Nationale bewegingen. Nationalistische partijen--Duitsland voor 1945 en na 1989 --- Nationale bewegingen. Nationalistische partijen--Duitsland voor 1945 en na 1989 --- Information scientists --- Library employees --- Information services --- Accession department --- Order department --- O.S.S. (Office of Strategic Services) --- OSS (Office of Strategic Services) --- Library of Congress Mission --- Library of Congress European Mission