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Title: World War II Poster Collection, 1941-1945

ID: MSS WW2Posters

Primary Creator: American Legion

Extent: 2.0 cubic feet. More info below.

Arrangement: The World War II Poster Collection is arranged into seven series: I: Office of War Information, 1942-1943; II: United States War Bonds & Stamps, 1942-1945; III: War Production, 1941-1944; IV: Civilian Experience, 1941-1945; V: U.S. Military, 1941-1944; VI: Foreign Propaganda, 1942-1944; VII: War Maps, 1942-1945. Materials are arranged within series alphabetically according to issuing organization and by production serial number or approximate date of printing.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

The World War II Poster Collection is comprised of propaganda posters generated by United States government agencies, civilian service organizations, and foreign agencies between 1941 and 1945. The collection contains numerous posters addressing U.S. war production, war bond and stamp sales, military recruiting, civil defense, civilian wartime responsibilities, and pro-U.S. propaganda.

The World War II Poster Collection is comprised of propaganda posters generated by U.S. government agencies including the Office of War Information, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, Office of Civil Defense, Department of Agriculture, the Office of Facts and Figures, War Department Safety Council, Federal Security Agency, Office for Emergency Management, Office for Economic Stabilization, and the Department of the Treasury; civilian organizations including the American Red Cross, American Library Association, and the American Legion; and foreign agencies including the British Information Service, Canadian Wartime Information Board, and the New Zealand Legation. This collection features poster artwork by R.M. Chapin, John Philip Falter, James Montgomery Flagg, Norman Rockwell, Valentino Sarra, Georges Schreiber, Kenneth W. Thompson, and others. Posters in this collection address war production efforts (including worker safety and participation of women), anti-espionage measures, wartime austerity, the U.S. Treasury's War Loan campaigns, charitable efforts in support of troops and civilians, military recruiting, civil defense, and general pro-U.S. propaganda. The collection is composed of 216 unique items and 79 duplicates, totalling 295 items.

World War II, the largest-scale conflict in human history, was fought between the Axis Powers (Germany, Japan, and Italy) and the Allied Forces (the British Commonwealth, France, the Soviet Union, the United States, and others) between 1939 and 1945. World War II began in September 1939 with Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland and escalated as European powers joined the conflict. On December 7, 1941, Japan launched an attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In response, the United States declared war on the Axis powers and began campaigns in Europe and the Pacific. Shortly thereafter, the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, China, and their allies signed the Atlantic Charter, uniting together against the Axis. Between 1942 and 1945, the fighting expanded to encompass much of Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Italy surrendered in 1943, Germany in May 1945, and Japan in August 1945. More than 60 million people died in World War II, including upwards of 40 million civilians as a result of the Nazi campaign against ethnic Jews and other targeted groups, military attacks on civilian populations in Europe, the United States' use of nuclear weapons against Japan, and war-related famine and disease.

America's involvement in World War II required immediate growth of the United States' armed forces, the conversion of peacetime industrial manufacturing to military needs, and the expansion of domestic agriculture to supply the United States' allies with food. Through a series of radio, film, and print media campaigns, the U.S. government asked young men to enlist in unprecedented numbers, encouraged women to join the workforce, and called upon citizens to enact wartime austerity measures, participate in war-related charitable work, and ultimately contribute nearly $200 billion to the war effort via goverment-issued bonds.

More Extent Information: 295 items; 13 map folders

Statement on Access: The collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: Many of the items in the World War II Poster Collection were acquired during World War II as part of Oregon State College's government document retention program and were housed in the Oregon State University Library maps collection with other war posters. In 1995, war posters housed by the Library were transferred to the University Archives. Shortly thereafter (in 1996), a small number of war posters that had been transferred from the Library to the Horner Museum in 1979 were also acquired by the University Archives. These two accessions comprised the University Archives' War Poster Collection. The World War II posters were separated in 2014 to form the World War II Poster Collection, which now resides in Oregon State University's Special Collections & Archives Research Center.

Related Materials: Other collections with materials related to World War II include the Wesley Ross Memoir of World War II (MSS RossW), the Oregon State College History of World War II Project Records (MSS OSCWW2), the Oregon State Yank Collection (MSS Yank), the Oregon State University Military Photographs Collection (P 002), the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers (MSS Pauling), and the History of Atomic Energy Collection (RB Energy). Other collections featuring war propaganda include the World War I Poster Collection (MSS WW1Posters) and the World War II Newsmaps (MAPS Newsmap).

Preferred Citation: World War II Poster Collection (MSS WW2Posters), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

American Legion
Alexander, Jack
Allen, Courtney (1896-)
Alpha Lithograph Co.
American Library Association
American Red Cross
Anderson, Harry (1906-)
Association of American Railroads
Atherton, John (1900-1952)
Atlantic Richfield Co.
Barclay, McClelland
Beall, C. C. (Cecil Calvert) (1892-1967)
Benet, Stephen Vincent (1898-1943)
Betts, Jack
Bingham, James
Blake, F. Donald (Fredrich Donald) (1908-1997)
British Information Services
Broder, S.
Brook, Alexander (1898-1980)
Brown & Bigelow
Bulosan, Carlos
Canada. Wartime Information Board
Carll, Jean
Chance, Fred
Chapin, R. M., Jr.
Childs, Jack
Chromoworks, Ltd.
Couillard, R.
Cutter, James
Daugherty, James Henry
Davis, Elmer Holmes (1890-1958)
Dorne, Albert (1904-1965)
Douglas, Morgan
Douglass
Downe, Albro F.
Duco
Durant, Will (1885-1981)
Eckman, Stanley
Edmunson
Elderman
Emmons, Delos C. (Delos Carleton) (1888-1965)
Eveleigh
F. Bruckmann KG
Falter, John Philip (1910-)
Fischer, Anton Otto (1882-1962)
Flagg, James Montgomery (1877-1960)
Fosh & Cross, Ltd.
Geddes, Norman Bel (1893-1958)
Great Britain. Ministry of War Transport
Great Britain. National Savings Committee
Great Britain. Scottish Savings Committee
Great Britain. Ulster Savings Committee
Green, Ruzzie
H. Manly & Son
Hewitt
HHL
Hirsch, Joseph
J. Howitt & Sons
J. Weiner, Ltd.
James Haworth & Company
James, Kerns & Abbot Co.
Koerner, Henry (1915-1991)
Liberman, Alexander (1912-1999)
Life Magazine
Lowe & Brydone
Magazine Publishers of America
Martin, David Stone
McCandlish Lithography Corporation
Meyers, Harry Morse
Mirabal, Eva
Moore, R.
Morris
Munsell, A. E. O. (Alexander Ector Orr)
Nadeau, Harriet
National Aeronautic Association (U.S.)
National Congress of Parents and Teachers
National Education Association of the United States
National Garden Bureau
New Zealand. Legation (U.S.)
Newbould, Frank
Newman, Emily
Nurick, Irving
Parker, Alfred (1906-1985)
Perlin, Bernard (1918-)
Pollock, Dean (1897-1971)
Presbetonequa, Charles
Prohaska, Ray
Quintana, Ben
Ragan, Leslie Darrell (1897-)
Remington Rand, Inc. Library Bureau Division
Richards, Walter
Rig, B.
Rockwell, Norman (1894-1978)
Ryling
Saalburg, Allen Russell (1899-1987)
Sarra, Valentino (1903-)
Saturday Evening Post
Savage, Steele
Schlaikjer, Jes Wilhelm (1897-)
Schreiber, Georges (1904-1977)
Scott, Foresman and Company
Shali_a_pin, Boris (1904-1979)
Shippers Advisory Board
Siebel, Frederick
Smith, Lawrence Beall (1909-)
Snider, Don
Spellens
Stafford & Co., Ltd.
Stanley, Frederic
Stecher-Truang Lithography Corporation
Tarkington, Booth (1869-1946)
Thompson, Kenneth W. (1907-)
Time Magazine
TWY
United Service Organizations (U.S.)
United States Employment Service
United States Indian School (Santa Fe, New Mexico)
United States. Army
United States. Army Air Forces
United States. Army Nurse Corps
United States. Army Service Forces. Army Information Branch
United States. Army. Air Corps
United States. Army. Recruiting Publicity Bureau
United States. Army. Recruiting Service
United States. Army. Western Defense Command
United States. Bureau of Home Economics
United States. Cadet Nurse Corps
United States. Citizens Service Corps
United States. Crop Corps
United States. Department of Agriculture
United States. Department of the Treasury
United States. Division of Labor Standards
United States. Federal Security Agency
United States. Federal Security Agency. Public Health Service
United States. Forest Service
United States. Government Printing Office
United States. Marine Corps
United States. Office for Emergency Management. Division of Information
United States. Office of Civil Defense
United States. Office of Civilian Defense
United States. Office of Defense Transportation
United States. Office of Economic Stabilization
United States. Office of Education
United States. Office of Facts and Figures
United States. Office of Facts and Figures. Graphics Division
United States. Office of Price Administration
United States. Office of War Information
United States. Public Health Service
United States. Solid Fuels Administration for War
United States. War Department
United States. War Department. Safety Council
United States. War Manpower Commission
United States. War Production Board
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States
Walentynowicz, M.

Civil defense.
Espionage.
Rationing--United States.
Recruiting and enlistment.
World War, 1939-1945--Maps.
World War, 1939-1945--Posters.
World War, 1939-1945--Propaganda.

Maps (documents)
Posters.