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Edmon Low Library
image of World War II Posters

World War II Posters

About the Collection

Propaganda is visible throughout social media daily, but even before the rise of social media, people used images and pointed words to influence the public’s thoughts and opinions. While propaganda has surely been at work as long as man has been able to communicate, what we consider modern propaganda was developed during World War I.

In 1937, American political scientist and communications theorist Harold Lasswell defined propaganda as "the technique of influencing human action by the manipulation of representations. These representations may take spoken, written, pictorial or musical form." The United States government used posters more than any other type of propaganda media, and produced more propaganda posters than any other country fighting in World War II. Almost 200,000 different designs were printed by the U.S. during World War II.

The Office of War Information (OWI) was created in 1942 to document America's mobilization for the was effort in films, texts, photographs, radio programs and posters. The posters would target specific emotions – hope, anger, patriotism – to encourage and discourage certain behaviors that were seen as essential to winning the war. Messages centered on unifying the public behind the war, recruiting soldiers and nurses, financing the war effort through war bonds and conserving resources.

This collection provides a glimpse into what life was like in the 1940s and 1950s and how the war impacted Americans. Women were encouraged to take on new working roles, both in war-related jobs and other positions necessary to support the economy. People began growing their own food to help prevent food shortages and keep market prices low. From images depicting the state of air quality to the consequences of “loose lips,” the propaganda posters were used to convey the realities of war to the general public.

The 149 posters in this collection were a gift of Archibald Edwards in 1973. All of these posters were published by the U.S. Government Printing Office during World War II and sent to large libraries and other institutions from the U.S. Department of War as part of the war effort. After being donated to the OSU Library, the posters were housed in the Government Documents department until they were digitized and transferred to the Archives for storage.

Access the Physical Collection

These materials are housed in the Archives. They can be consulted by appointment in the Archives office (2nd floor) of the Edmon Low Library at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma. For more information please contact the Archives at 405-744-6311 or libscua@okstate.edu.

The Archives at the OSU Library
204 Edmon Low Library
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: 405-744-6311
libscua@okstate.edu

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