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Guide to the Charles B. Burdick War Poster Collection
MSS-2010-02-02
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Title: Charles B. Burdick War Poster Collection
Dates: 1914-1979
Bulk Dates: 1914-1945
Collection number: MSS-2010-02-02
Collector:
Burdick, Charles Burton, 1927-1998
Collection Size:
122 Folders, 1,452 Posters
Repository:
San José State University. Library.
San José, California 95192-0028
Abstract: The Charles B. Burdick War Poster Collection 1914-1979 (bulk 1914-1945) is a graphic art collection of posters documenting
World War I and World War II. The collection consists of over 1,400 posters created by both the United States and foreign
nations. War posters were used as propaganda to sell the war to the American public. The posters generally defined war as
a struggle between good and evil, and featured the sale of liberty bonds to protect American democracy. A broad range of topics
are represented in the collection, including war bonds, civilian employment, women's service in the military, food rationing,
and fire prevention. The collection also includes posters documenting political subject matter from the 1930s-1970s. This
collection is arranged into three series: Series I. World War I Posters, 1914-1918; Series II. World War II Posters, 1939-1945;
and Series III. Political Posters, 1930s-1970s.
Physical location: Posters are located in flat file drawers 1-01 through 2-10 in Vault 1.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English, Filipino, French, German, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish.
The collection is open for research.
Copyright is assigned to the San José State University Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the Special Collections & Archives. Copyright restrictions may apply to digital reproductions of the
original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Charles B. Burdick War Poster Collection, MSS-2010-02-02, San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives.
Collection processed by Robert Donahue. Finding aid EAD encoded by Rosalinda Gonzales. Reviewed by Danelle Moon and Erin Louthen.
This finding aid was created as part of the Survey and Cataloging Project, a two-year San José State University Library grant
project funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The project began in 2008.The Project Director
is Danelle Moon. The Project Archivist is Erin Louthen.
Between World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945), the U.S. government used propaganda through the mass production
of war posters, pamphlets, billboards, advertisements, and film to foster broad-based support of the two wars. In World War
I, the Committee on Public Information (CPI) was organized to shape public opinion in favor of U.S. war aims. Civilian chairman,
journalist George Creel, enlisted the creative talent of over 150,000 people to produce over 100 million pieces of literature
and visual materials in order to explain the meaning and cause of the war to the American public. During World II, the War
Advertising Council (WAC) produced a similar volume of war propaganda materials.
The U.S. government used propaganda posters as a powerful mass communication tool to build support for the war effort. Throughout
both wars, posters were created to boost morale, increase patriotic sentiment, promote the purchase of war bonds, offer guidelines
for food rationing, and promote civilian and military war work, while demonizing countries such as Germany, Japan, Spain,
and Italy. Various government agencies worked closely with private organizations such as the YWCA and the Red Cross to produce
a variety of posters that supported the war, and specifically targeted women to conserve, to work in war industries, and to
consider military service.
Included in this collection are posters that depict the aggression of the Germans against the vulnerability of neighboring
countries, such as the experience of Belgium. One such example graphically projects the imagery of the Belgium people victimized
by the Germans as invading Huns. In WWII, both the United States and England also utilized the "First to Fight" poster campaign
to portray the Germans and the Japanese in an unfavorable light. Many of these posters used less offensive techniques to engender
support from American women by targeting their responsibilities as patriots through military service as WAVES, WACS, and as
Red Cross nurses, while the iconic image of "Rosie the Riveter" and slogans like "Yes We Can!" encouraged both married and
single women to enter the workforce in unprecedented numbers.
Bird, William L.
Design for Victory: World War II Posters on the American Home Front. 1st ed. Rubenstein, Harry R. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1998.
Paret, Peter.
Persuasive Images: Posters of War and Revolution from the Hoover Institution Archives. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1992.
Price, Sean.
The Art of War: the Posters of World War II. Chicago: Raintree, 2009.
The Charles B. Burdick War Poster Collection 1914-1979 (bulk 1914-1945) is a graphic art collection of posters documenting
World War I and World War II. The collection consists of over 1,400 posters created by both the United States and foreign
nations. War posters were used as propaganda to sell the war to the American public. The posters generally defined war as
a struggle between good and evil, and featured the sale of liberty bonds to protect American democracy. A broad range of topics
are represented in the collection, including war bonds, civilian employment, women's service in the military, food rationing,
and fire prevention The collection also includes posters documenting political subject matter from the 1930s-1970s.
This collection is arranged into three series: Series I. World War I Posters, 1914-1918; Series II. World War II Posters,
1939-1945; and Series III. Political Posters, 1930s-1970s.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
World War, 1914-1918 -- History
World War, 1939-1945 -- History
World War, 1914-1918 -- Posters
World War, 1939-1945 -- Posters
World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
World War, 1914-1918 -- United States -- Posters
World War, 1939-1945 -- United States
World War, 1939-1945 -- Finance -- United States
World War, 1939-1945 -- United States -- Posters
World War, 1939-1945 -- United States -- Propaganda
World War, 1939-1945 -- Women -- United States
World War, 1939-1945 -- War Work -- United States
World War, 1939-1945 -- Food Supply -- United States
United States -- Naval Reserve -- Women's Reserve
United States -- Office of Civilian Defense
United States -- Office of War Information
United States -- War Food Administration
United States -- War Manpower Commission
Creel, George, 1876-1953
Committee on Public Information -- United States