A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46
At approximately 1.30 am in the night of 11-12 September 1939 two police officers walked into the offices of the Daily Mail with instructions to seize all of its early editions. This action was repeated at newspaper offices and wholesale newsagents across the United Kingdom.
New findings from our project …
The Ministry of Information experimented with numerous methods of communication. In this first in a series of three posts Professor Simon Eliot explores how it used exhibitions for publicity and propaganda purposes.
The Ministry of Information (MOI) used exhibitions to convey information in an entertaining and easily-digested form. They complemented …
The ‘A Publishing and Communication History of the Ministry of Information’ project team are delighted to confirm their involvement in the Being Human 2014. This post by Dr Henry Irving explains what can be expected.
Being Human is the UK’s first national festival of the humanities. Running between 15 and …
The House of Commons as it looked in 1939. Report from the Select Committee on House of Commons-Rebuilding (1944)
We are live tweeting extracts from a Parliamentary debate on the Ministry of Information that was held on 28 July 1939. The following post by Dr Henry Irving explains why the …
We are approaching the Ministry of Information as a unique case study in the history of communication. This post by Professor Simon Eliot explains why.
The history of communication is concerned with the ways in
which information, understanding and knowledge have been communicated from
individual to individual, and from community …
Our findings as featured on 'The Conversation'
The instruction to ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ is one of the most recognisable slogans in British history. However its pervasiveness obscures the complicated history of a poster that was designed on this day 75 years ago but was not widely seen in …
The Macmillan Hall in 2013 : Photo © The University of London
A version of this post by Dr Matt Philpott originally appeared on the School of Advanced Studies blog on 27 September 2013
The University of London’s Senate House has a rich and intriguing history. The building was the …
A Ministry of Information Organisation 'Grid' TNA, INF 1/78
The Ministry of Information was an extraordinary institution that had been designed to undertake a variety of roles. The following post by Dr Henry Irving hopes to provide a brief introduction.
The Ministry of Information (MOI) began work on 4 September …
A Ministry of Information Film Unit car leaves Senate House © IWM (D 1199)
This post by Dr Henry Irving explores the way that the Ministry of Information's launch was handled by the British government.
One of the striking facts about the Ministry of Information (MOI) is that it attempted …
This post by Dr Henry Irving originally appeared on the Institute of English Studies Blog on 4 April 2014.
The Ministry of Information (MOI) established by the British government during the Second World War was regarded as an anomaly by many of its contemporaries. Responsible for a range of functions, …