US propaganda poster with artillery gun barrels draped in Allied flags
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 22.500 inches (57.15 cm) | Width: 15.875 inches (40.323 cm)
Creator(s)
- United States Government Printing Office (Printer)
- Henry Koerner (Artist)
- United States Office of War Information (Distributor)
Biographical History
The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was created on June 13, 1942, to centralize and control the content and production of government information and propaganda about the war. It coordinated the release of war news for domestic use, and using posters along with radio broadcasts, worked to promote patriotism, warn about foreign spies, and recruit women into war work. The office also established an overseas branch, which launched a large-scale information and propaganda campaign abroad. The government appealed to the public through popular culture and more than a quarter of a billion dollars' worth of advertising was donated during the first three years of the National Defense Savings Program. Victory in Europe was declared on May 8, 1945, and in Japan on September 2, 1945. The OWI ceased operation in September.
Archival History
The poster was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1988 by David and Zelda Silberman.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of David and Zelda Silberman
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
US and Allied Nations propaganda poster with an image of antiaircraft or artillery gun barrels wrapped in Allied flags. It was issued by the Office of War Information as a symbol of the unity of the Allied forces against their common enemies, the Axis powers. Henry Koerner, the artist, was an Austrian Jewish emigre artist who joined the OWI in 1943. On January 1, 1942, the US, Great Britain, Soviet Union, and China signed the United Nations Declaration, joined the next day by 22 other nations. The signatory governments pledged to exert the maximum war effort and not to make a separate peace. The United Nations was founded 3 years later. The need to manage the war on the Home Front led to the establishment of the OWI in June 1942. This office controlled the design and distribution of war information to the American public in posters, photographs, radio shows, and films. They commissioned work from leading artists and the posers were distributed to retailers for display.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Offset color lithographic poster of 17 long, black, antiaircraft gun barrels firing yellow streams, lighting the black sky with red and yellow flames and smoke. Each barrel has a national flag of an Allied power wrapped around it, the US is in the center, with Great Britain and the Soviet Union to the left and right. The slogan is printed at the top and bottom. It was folded into quarters for mailing convenience.
People
- Koerner, Henry, 1915-1991.
Subjects
- War posters, American.
- World War, 1939-1945--United States--Posters--Specimens.
- Allied Powers (1919- )--Posters--Specimens.
Genre
- Object
- Posters