Collections Finds: WWII Posters

For the last few weeks, I’ve been working with two volunteers on a big project: moving our downstairs archive space upstairs to make room for more exhibits on the main floor of the museum. The process lately has involved moving large, flat file cases out of the archive room to a staging area while we prepare their upstairs home and, due to the size of some of the flat file cases, that’s meant we’ve had to take everything out of the drawers, move the drawer, then replace the items once the drawer has been moved. While it takes a while to move things this way, it gives us a chance to get a really good look at some of the things in the collection that we may not otherwise see. This week, those things were a number of WWII Posters produced by the Office of War Information (OWI).

​I had seen some of these posters before in the collection and outside of it. Of course the most well known include the Uncle Sam “I want You” pointing signs and Rosie the Riveter “We Can Do It” poster. They’ve transcended WWII era America to become something quickly recognizable (and oftentimes spoofed) however, many of the posters that were produced at the time and appear in the museum collections were rather alarming, with slogans like “a careless word, a needless loss” featuring an unconscious sailor on a beach.  

​It turns out, thousands of these posters were made, promoting the sales of war bonds, conserving resources, growing “victory gardens”, improving nutrition, and the promotion of working in war-related industries. They were overseen by the Office of War Information (OWI) Domestic Operations Branch, whose goal was to distribute the posters in every American town and swap them out every two weeks with new posters supporting the war through efforts like rationing, purchasing War Bonds and carpooling at home. The OWI teamed up with Boy Scouts, taxicab agencies, railroads, and the National Retail Association to distribute and update the posters country-wide through the duration of the war. The artists who drew these posters were unpaid and numbered 8,000, and they produced 30,500 images that were turned into posters and comics, becoming one of the faces of the United States during WWII. Artists were instructed to create posters that fit into one of the following themes:  

​1. The Nature of the Enemy - general or detailed descriptions of this enemy, such as, he hates religion, persecutes labor, kills Jews and other minorities, smashes home life, debases women, etc.
2. The Nature of our Allies - the United Nations theme, our close ties with Britain, Russia, and China, Mexicans and Americans fighting side by side on Bataan and on the battlefronts.
3. The Need to Work - the countless ways in which Americans must work if we are to win the war, in factories, on ships, in mines, in fields, etc.
4. The Need to Fight - the need for fearless waging of war on land, sea, and skies, with bullets, bombs, bare hands, if we are to win.
5. The Need to Sacrifice - Americans are willing to give up all luxuries, devote all spare time to the war effort, etc., to help win the war.
6. The Americans - we are fighting for the four freedoms, the principles of the Atlantic Charter, Democracy, and no discrimination against races and religions, etc.

​The posters used a variety of symbols and slogans promoting patriotism and support for the war effort, and many were happy individuals supporting the war effort, however some drew on incredibly racist stereotypes or dark subjects. Some of these posters made specific references to negative outcomes, like ships sinking, from people “talking”.

The phrase “loose lips sink ships” comes from these posters, which were meant to warn of the dangers of military personnel discussing war plans in the open. There was a major fear of spies in the US during WWII, or individuals who may sell secrets they overheard to the Axis powers, which had the very real possibility of causing an attack and fatalities on the side of the Allies. These particular posters were typically hung places where military personnel frequented, but did appear in civilian areas as well.

When the WWII period is viewed through these images, a polished, united picture of the population of WWII America arises, which leads to interesting questions on what kind of America people in that period were fighting for in the decision to engage in WWII, and how that image compared to the outcomes reached by the time the war came to an end.