Second World War Posters

Collected from the highways and byways of England and America, this collection of World War II-era posters gives a real feel for the times. Mustering patriotism and pride in the war effort, recruiting soldiers and auxiliaries, or offering advice from keeping pigs to watching out for spies, these propaganda posters reflect the lives of the civlians in war-time England and the U.S.

The posters come from the London Transport Museum, the Imperial War Museum and the Public Record Office, all in England, and the collection has a noticeable British slant. But there's more than enough American material, and the similarities between the perspectives of each side of the Atlantic make it hard, at first glance, to tell which country belongs to which posters.

The posters, all focusing on the issues of the war itself, offer an interesting spectrum of messages. Each rank of cards provides a different theme (the tens are Unity Among the Allies, the sixes are Seeing It Through). The propaganda ranges from the simple poster of General Montgomery (shown below) to posters just of gratitude to the various armed forces. Recruitment posters double as glorification of their respective services as well. But many of the posters are simple messages for living through the war. "Loose Lips Sink Ships," while never said in those words, is a significant theme, as is the importance of light management at night, and even working extra hard to produce the necessities of war. Women are urged into the factories and auxiliary services, men too old for the services themselves are urged to start up gardens and farms in their spare time to keep the food supply up. While not entirely absent, there is comparatively little negative, anti-German propaganda. I can't say whether it's true of the time, but at least in this collection, the point is the importance of keeping your spirits up, seeing the war through and supporting our boys, not merely hating the enemy to death.

All images © Philip Lewis Agencies, displayed here for commentary, analysis and appreciation only.