Accession Number
1954/2.35.32

Title
Help Them - Keep Your War Savings Pledge - Issued By U.S. Treasury Dept.

Artist(s)
Casper Emerson

Object Creation Date
circa 1917

Medium & Support
color lithograph on paper

Dimensions
36 1/16 x 24 1/16 in. (91.5 x 61 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Mr. Maurice F. Lyons

Label copy
Emerson's design for "Help Them" was a prize winner in a poster competition held during 1917 in order to promote the War Savings Stamp campaign which was launched in that same year. This campaign was an attempt to get the public to invest their money, even in small amounts, in government war stamps which would provide revenue for essential military industries and divert excess funds from creating a demand for and being wasted on nonessential luxury items. The stamps were sold in the form of 25 cent thrift stamps and five dollar war savings stamps, the latter being pictured in Emerson's design.
This poster is an effective one in that it graphically shows the relation between one's investment in war stamps and one's contribution to the men fighting on the front. This is done artistically by showing the five dollar stamps in the foreground gradually merging with the machine gun cartridges used by the soldiers at the top of the design.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
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Keywords
Text-based Art
World War I
fighting
guns
helmet
modern and contemporary art
posters
soldiers
wars