Large, rectangular poster printed on off-white paper, featuring an image of the etched head and raised, torch-bearing arm of the Statue of Liberty. To the right are nine rows of 30 national flags with each nation’s name under their respective flag. The first row features the four main Allied nations: the United States, Great Britain, Soviet Russia, and China. The remaining rows feature the nations of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, The Philippines, Poland, South Africa, and Yugoslavia. The background of the poster is black and at the top is a line of white text. A line of small, black text is printed along the bottom center and right margin. The paper has a long, centered, vertical crease and three evenly spaced horizontal creases. The lower, left, back corner has some small stains.
No restrictions on access
No restrictions on use
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.
The poster was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1988 by David and Zelda Silberman.
overall: Height: 28.000 inches (71.12 cm) | Width: 22.000 inches (55.88 cm)
Poster depicting the Statue of Liberty and the flags of 30 of the first 31 (Iraq’s flag is not pictured) countries who had declared war on the Axis Powers, and signed the Declaration by the United Nations (an alternate term to describe the Allied Powers). The Declaration pledged the signatories to employ their full resources to the war effort, and prevented them from making a separate peace. The poster was designed by Steve Broder, a Canadian artist working in the United States. The need to manage information about 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 print, radio, and film media. The OWI commissioned work from leading artists to create posters to inspire and instill confidence and patriotism in the American public. The OWI also ran information campaigns for civilian agencies, War Bond drives, and campaigns to ramp up economic production for the war effort. New posters were distributed every two weeks, with the stated goal of placing posters in every city and town in the United States.
US poster depicting the Statue of Liberty and flags of Allied Nations