Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Fighting talk: America's WWI-era posters

Gallery: From recruitment drives to war relief efforts – a selection of First World War posters archived in the Library of Congress.

THE US DECLARED war on Germany in April 1917 after several American merchant ships were sunk by German forces.

Hundreds of posters were printed and distributed in the US between then and the formal end of war in November 1918.

Recruitment drives for military and medical units including the army, navy, signal corps, and the veterinary corps were advertised, and fundraising efforts for the military through war bonds were promoted.

Posters also urged people to save food and goods which could prove useful to the military, and encouraged people to help the war relief effort for those living in war-torn countries overseas.

Here is a selection from the many posters archived in the US Library of Congress:

American Ambulance in Russia
1 / 11
  • American Ambulance in Russia

    The Russian caption on this circa-1917 poster reads: "Military loan". (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division)
  • American Committee for Relief in the Near East

    A campaign urging donations to support victims of war. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division)
  • Boys' Working Reserve

    A WWI poster encouraging those too young to enlist to take part in the war's production efforts. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division)
  • Stenographers!

    The US Capitol is silhouetted in the background of this 1917 call-out for stenographers to join the war effort. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division)
  • The Greatest Mother

    A Red Cross poster from 1917 depicting a nurse cradling a wounded soldier. The US Tank Corps's 1917 call for "fighting men" to join up. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division)
  • Join the Tanks

    The US Tank Corps's 1917 call for "fighting men" to join up. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division)
  • A Wonderful Opportunity

    A 1917 call to enlist in the US Navy. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division)
  • The $3,000,000,000 punch

    America's Uncle Sam in a coat marked "Liberty Bond" punching the German Kaiser in a 1917 poster. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division)
  • Enlist

    A New York-produced poster featuring a woman and infant, passengers of the stricken Lusitania vessel, dating from 1915 or 1916. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division)
  • Forward America!

    The symbolic personification of early America, Columbia, depicted leading an airplane squadron. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division)
  • Victory is a Questions of Stamina

    The US Food Administration seeking "fuel for fighters" in 1917. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division)

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
3 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Leitrim303
    Favourite Leitrim303
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 6:09 PM

    I cannot understand why this project has not been started already. Surly a loan can be sought from the European investment bank. This will be a money making entity once it is operational so it will be paid back over time

    184
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute J M Raw
    Favourite J M Raw
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 7:27 PM

    @Leitrim303: very few public transport systems make a profit so I doubt it would make much money

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tom Shine
    Favourite Tom Shine
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 10:58 PM

    @J M Raw: m50 toll is profit on profit with more profit on top.

    48
    See 2 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute J M Raw
    Favourite J M Raw
    Report
    Jun 10th 2018, 2:01 AM

    @Tom Shine: M50 is a road. Public transport systems are buses, trams, metro etc.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SC
    Favourite SC
    Report
    Jun 10th 2018, 10:02 AM

    @J M Raw: the dart runs at a profit. Some regional services don’t. Anyway, it’s an investment into getting workers to work which has other benefits for the economy.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dj
    Favourite Dj
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 6:21 PM

    Alternate headline..”Dublin office building rejected by An Board Pleanala because it would interfere with Dart Underground station which won’t be built because it was rejected funding by Dublin City Council”..All that’s missing is some Benny Hill music.

    152
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Powell
    Favourite Michael Powell
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 7:19 PM

    @Dj: ha ha is that actually true.

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tom Shine
    Favourite Tom Shine
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 11:17 PM

    @Dj: Benny hill music if not all ready Dublin City Council theme tune it should be.

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dotty Dunleary
    Favourite Dotty Dunleary
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 6:58 PM

    By the time this Metro is built most of us will be transported by Hearse!

    67
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute RJ.Fallon
    Favourite RJ.Fallon
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 6:07 PM

    Maltese company ???

    57
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Ryan
    Favourite John Ryan
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 6:27 PM

    @RJ.Fallon: Looks like a shell set up in May 2016. No websites and address is a building with euphmistically entitled businesses such as PDK investments and LT Textile Holding Limited. Considering no publication in Ireland is willing to name the owners of the company Id say it’s probably safe to say it’s “he who cannot be named”.. and I don’t mean Voldemort…

    97
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Dickson
    Favourite David Dickson
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 6:43 PM

    @John Ryan: well then it is a nice report.

    16
    See 4 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Patrick J. O'Rourke
    Favourite Patrick J. O'Rourke
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 7:16 PM

    @John Ryan: I take it you mean the scruffy little elf who looks after Harry Potter?

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Ryan
    Favourite John Ryan
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 7:35 PM

    @Patrick J. O’Rourke: I have no comment to make as I really can’t afford a High Court case right now (or ever). ;-)

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Ryan
    Favourite John Ryan
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 7:37 PM

    @Patrick J. O’Rourke: I could be entirely worng of course but it looks like likely.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute RJ.Fallon
    Favourite RJ.Fallon
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 7:42 PM

    @John Ryan: Thanks for that info, it puts a perspective on it.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Girl
    Favourite The Girl
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 6:07 PM

    Ok. Will we ever get underground metro system in this country?

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute P.J. Nolan
    Favourite P.J. Nolan
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 6:09 PM

    @The Girl:
    No.

    49
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lurfic
    Favourite Lurfic
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 6:10 PM

    @The Girl: I’d say our debt repayments over next few years will make it tough to fund.

    16
    See 2 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Stack
    Favourite Tony Stack
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 7:28 PM

    @Lurfic: Don’t you mean all the give away budgets will make it hard to fund?

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Leroy
    Favourite Leroy
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 8:51 PM

    @Tony Stack: Give away?!…I think you mean give the back the people their hard earned cash which you so happened to thieve in the first instance!

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Derek Power
    Favourite Derek Power
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 6:18 PM

    So blocked by a project that they arent working on and never will…seems legit

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fred Jonsen
    Favourite Fred Jonsen
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 6:34 PM

    The maltese company should bring this to the high court. DART underground is still a figment of our imaginations. There’s plenty of other land and routes it could take. All development can’t be stopped just in case we do something 30 years from now. Ridiculous.

    37
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Ryan
    Favourite John Ryan
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 6:38 PM

    @Fred Jonsen: The Maltese company is also a figment of someone’s imagination. It exist only on paper.

    66
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stevie Doran
    Favourite Stevie Doran
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 6:57 PM

    Need a few brown envelopes lads

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Shane Zerbe
    Favourite Shane Zerbe
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 9:49 PM

    The state should just buy the site at current market value …

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute thesaltyurchin
    Favourite thesaltyurchin
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 7:55 PM

    Someone come and take this place over again! Please!

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Native
    Favourite Native
    Report
    Jun 9th 2018, 10:24 PM

    Brown envelopes must have been a little light.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute DeFonz
    Favourite DeFonz
    Report
    Jun 10th 2018, 7:45 AM

    Maltese Elf must receive compo from the Taxpayers.. here we go again..

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eddie Mc Keown
    Favourite Eddie Mc Keown
    Report
    Jun 10th 2018, 8:57 AM

    Make it part of the building (underground station hub)…

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Patrick Ellis
    Favourite Patrick Ellis
    Report
    Jun 11th 2018, 11:14 AM

    Government have been buying property along this planned underground railroad for years, the wording used was neutralized ground, Next they will be looking to store all the human sludge/faeces from Dublin next to the airport…..

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds