Restoring V-E Day and V-J Day Celebration Photos: Peace After WWII

V-E Day (May 8, 1945) and V-J Day (August 15, 1945) produced two of the most photographed public moments of the 20th century. The spontaneous celebrations in cities across America were captured by professional photographers and ordinary people alike.

The Double Victory of 1945

The European Theater ended first — V-E Day in May, V-J Day in August — and the celebrations reflected this sequence. The August celebrations, ending a war that had lasted three and a half years for the United States, were particularly intense.

Personal and Public Celebration

Victory day photographs exist at two scales: the massive public celebrations photographed by press photographers, and the smaller personal celebrations photographed by ordinary people. Family archives typically contain the latter — neighborhood parties, family gatherings, the specific moment of hearing the news.

The Return After Victory

Victory day photographs were followed, in subsequent months and years, by photographs of return — the service members coming home, the reunions, the rebuilding of interrupted lives. These return photographs are part of the same archive.

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