New Poster Exhibit Opens Nov. 22 at National Museum of The U.S. Air Force

  • Published
  • By Danielle Almeter
  • National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force will open a temporary exhibit titled “Posters at Home and War” on Nov. 22, 2019. This exhibit will feature more than 60 propaganda posters used in the U.S. from World War I through the Cold War.
 

The exhibit, which will be on display in the museum’s Hall of Honor, will cover four main topics that were important to the nation at that time: home front, war bonds, recruitment and training.
 

Most posters began as original artwork, sometimes created by some of the country’s most famous artists such as Norman Rockwell and James Montgomery Flagg. Included in the exhibit is an original painting by Howard Chandler Christy which is on loan from the Air Force Art Program. Christy was a world-renowned artist who generously donated his time and talent to the war effort. The painting on exhibit is titled “Fly! For Her Liberty and Yours!” This artwork was painted in 1943 for the U.S. Army Air Forces and reproduced as a poster for recruitment.
 

According to National Museum of the U.S. Air Force Curator Christina Douglass, these posters were used by government and commercial agencies to mobilize America for war.
 

“The nation needed a way to encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to support the war effort,” said Douglass. “Posters with straightforward messages and powerful imagery were used to heavily advertise war bond drives and to entice future service members.”
 

This is the first time these posters have been displayed as a feature exhibit at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, which maintains over 500 posters in its historical collection.
 

This exhibit is brought to you in part by the generosity of the Air Force Museum Foundation, Inc. (Federal endorsement is not implied.)
More information about the exhibit available here.

 

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, is the world’s largest military aviation museum. With free admission and parking, the museum features more than 350 aerospace vehicles and missiles and thousands of artifacts amid more than 19 acres of indoor exhibit space. Each year about one million visitors from around the world come to the museum. For more information, visit www.nationalmuseum.af.mil.
 

NOTE TO PUBLIC: For more information, please contact the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at (937) 255-3286.
 

NOTE TO MEDIA: For more information, please contact Danielle Almeter at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force Public Affairs Division at (937) 255-1283.