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Preliminary Guide to the Helen McKie / World War I Drawings Collection
Bernath Mss 24
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Title: Helen McKie / World War I Drawings Collection
Dates: ca. 1917-1919
Collection Number: Bernath Mss 24
Creator:
McKie, Helen Madeleine
Extent:
.3 linear feet
(1 oversize box)
Repository:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special Collections
Santa Barbara, California 93106-9010
Physical Location: Annex 2.
Abstract: Drawings from the Great War Collection.
Language:
English.
None. Collection is stored off-site; advance notice required for retrieval.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Helen McKie / World War I Drawings Collection. Bernath Mss 24. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University
of California, Santa Barbara.
Undetermined.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains 65 signed drawings, mainly pen and ink, along with a few watercolors, by British artist/designer Helen
Madeleine McKie. The drawings depict World War I scenes, including several of women involved in the war effort. Most are portraits
or caricatures of individual soldiers from various service branches or small groups of men and women in informal, social settings,
with a few set in France and Flanders. None depict battle scenes. Most seem to be of British military and civilians, although
a few are of Americans in uniform, as well as French, Turks, and Germans.
Nearly all of the drawings have accompanying captions such as "American with his amazing gift of the gab," "Chaplain is often
called Padre or Sky Pilot," "1918 [soldier standing watch in a trench]," "Over there in Flanders ," "People with money who
obviously had nothing to do with the war," "The Pessimist," "Putting Gas Helmets on Carrier Pigeons," "Straight on to Berlin,"
"Teas for Wounded Soldiers," and "Those Heroic Men."
The drawings vary in size, from about 15 cm x 20 cm to about 32 cm x 42 cm. Penciled notes on some of the drawings, such as
"Urgent, 5:30 p.m.," suggest that they may have been created for newspapers or other publications with very short deadlines.
Helen McKie is perhaps best known for her later art and publicity work with British railroads, especially the 1948 poster
of Waterloo Station in London.
There is no container list for this collection.