As part of the ongoing exhibit of posters in Special Collections for Veterans Day, the students who created the exhibits also created entries for this blog. We will be posting these over the rest of the month of November.
1992.004.5.178 For Every Fighter a Woman Worker. Care for Her Through the YWCA.
I chose a poster put out by the United War Work Campaign titled For Every Fighter a Woman Worker: Care for Her Through the YWCA” . The poster has been exhibited at St. Lawrence University, the University of Tulsa, University of Nebraska Lincoln, the Hood Museum, and the Dallas Museum of Art. It was published in Wake up, America! World War 1 and the American Poster . According to the National Heritage Museum, The United War Work Campaign “brought together seven organizations–the YMCA, the YWCA, the American Library Association, the War Camp Community Service, the Knights of Columbus, the Jewish Welfare Board, and the Salvation Army–into one large funding drive charged with raising over $170 million for the war in 1918” . I think the poster’s main audience was women; most obviously because it was put out to support the Young Women’s Christians Association. It has a large downward facing triangle in the background which is an ancient symbol for women and part of the YWCA’s logo. The female figure in the foreground is wearing a workers jumper and holding a plane in one hand and a blimp in the other hand showing her support of the troops oversees. Its message is straightforward: if we are going to make it through the war we need women working outside of the home on the home front to support the men overseas. A similar poster was put out by the UWWC titled For Every Fighter a Woman Worker. Back our Girls Over There by Ernest Hamlin Baker . This poster, put out by the same group in support of the same organization, has the same message but instead of one woman in the foreground there are many. They are lined up in rows similar to soldiers, holding tools, and presumably marching off to work to do their part in the war effort. This poster was published in Picture This: World War 1 Posters and Visual Culture . Throughout my research I encountered many posters that were geared towards women with the goal of creating a new
Bibliography
-Baker, Ernest Hamlin. For Every Fighter a Woman Worker. Back our Second Line of Defense. 1918. University of Nebraska Lincoln. Accessed Oct. 11th, 2012. http://unllib.unl.edu/exhibits/wwIposters/ymca.ywca.gallery.html
-James, Pearl. Picture This: World War 1 Posters and Visual Culture. Lincoln. University of Nebraska Press. 2009.
-Rawls, Walton. Wake up America! World War 1 and the American Poster. New York. Abbeville Press. 1988.
-Treidler, Adolph. For Every Fighter a Woman Worker. Care for Her Through the YWCA. United War Work Campaign. 1918. Dallas Museum of Art. Accessed Oct. 10th, 2012.http://dallasmuseumofart.org:9090/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/People$00401845/0?t:state:flow=a21899fe-1d4d-409a-8bfc-73f406e61710
-Treidler, Adolph. For Every Fighter a Woman Worker.
About 1918.
Offset lithograph.
Gift of Ellmore A. Hammesfahr, Class of 1928; PS.977.113 Hood Museum of Art. Accessed Oct. 9th, 2012. http://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/collections/overview/americas/northamerica/uscanada/paper/posters/PS977113.html
-Treidler, Adolph. For every Fighter a Woman Worker, Care for Her Through the YWCA. 1917-1920. St. Lawrence University. The Richard F. Brush Art Gallery and Permanent Collection.http://stlawu.edu/gallery/education/f/gs103-3-10-3.phpAccessed Oct. 11th, 2012.
-Treidler, Adolph. For Every Fighter a Woman Worker. Care for Her Through the YWCA. 19.18. University of Nebraska Lincoln. Accessed Oct. 11th, 2012. http://unllib.unl.edu/exhibits/wwIposters/ymca.ywca.gallery.html
-Treidler, Adolph. For Every Fighter a Woman Worker: American Women during World War I. National Heritage Museum. Accessed Oct. 9th, 2012. http://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/2011/04/for-every-fighter-a-woman-worker.html
-Treidler, Adolph. For Every Fighter A Woman Worker. University of Tulsa: Special Collections, 1917-1918.
— Guest post by Taryn Singleton
