Snapshots of Orange County in the 1940s: Spaces, Places and Faces is a complementary exhibit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) and the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office's traveling exhibition, Americans and the Holocaust, which was on display from February 2, 2022 through March 9, 2022. The traveling exhibition explores the motives, pressures and fears that shaped Americans' responses to Nazism, war, and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s highlighting themes in American history, including Americans' responses to refugees. This exhibition challenges the commonly held assumptions that Americans knew little and did nothing about the Nazi persecution and murder of Jews as the Holocaust unfolded. To learn more Americans and the Holocaust, visit ushmm.org/americans-ala.

As one of 50 sites selected to host Americans and the Holocaust, UC Irvine Libraries was honored to share this groundbreaking exhibition with the UC Irvine campus and community in 2022. In alignment with the traveling exhibition, we gathered guest speakers and experts from UC Irvine and across the nation to discuss antisemitism, extremism, and the power of human connection. The Americans and the Holocaust event series honored the past, challenges assumptions, and explores how history continues to shape our present. To view recordings of all the Libraries 2022 events related to the Americans and the Holocaust, visit lib.uci.edu/americans.

In tandem with the USHMM traveling exhibition, Snapshots of Orange County in the 1940s explores the cultural, economic, and political landscape of Orange County from its inception through World War II. While multicultural groups were setting roots before the war, military installations brought soldiers from all over the country to Orange County, changing the demographics, cultural norms, and expectations. This exhibit shares the stories of the spaces, places, and faces that transformed rural Orange County to a thriving metropolis.