Sowing Victory

The Boston MFA has an impressive collection of World War I posters currently on display, given by John T. Spaulding in the summer of 1937. He and his brother, William S., were great supporters of the MFA, providing the museum with major gifts from their collections. These posters were first displayed in the fall of 1938, when war was imminent. They served therefore a double purpose by establishing the aesthetic value of posters (extending if you will from the earlier appreciation for prints) and providing viewers with needed patriotism to support the United States' eventual engagement in the coming war.

Mostly from the United States, the posters also include some from France, England, Russia and Germany. They urge citizens to buy bonds in support of the war cause, but some also encourage men to enlist, often using guilt to pressure. A picture of a father with children on his lap and a caption that reads “Daddy, what did you do in the war?” or a picture of several hats (fedora, straw, ad so forth) with a navy cap in the center and the question “Which hat will you wear?”

Most intriguing to me, however, were the posters about rationing, and self-subsistence by planting “Victory” gardens. Somehow, support of the country has shifted away from the notion that we be careful about our consumption. Since Ford decided to recall troops from Vietnam in TK to suggest the end of the war there, even though United States presence continued for a while, as a nation we have been adverse to military engagement unless quick and easy. This is understandable, but it means we delude ourselves that we are not at war, as say our continued military engagement in Iraq for over a decade should be considered. Since we are not at war, we do not think of ourselves as having to minimize or economize as if we were at war. Our economy depends on excess spending, I understand that, but unfortunately, it makes us wasteful and inconsiderate of the real costs of sustained success. You an’t win a war you aren’t fighting. You can’t avoid waste if a surplus is assumed.

We are at war, and I’m struck by the ease with which we live our lives. I’m not sure that planting gardens, or rationing meat and flour and sugar, would do anything for our troops or the military, but these posters did make me note how the two were once linked.