Food Conservation and World War I

During World War I, food became an essential part of the war effort.  The Great War, as it was known, decimated the landscapes of Europe making food production incredibly difficult.  As the war raged on, the need for food became increasingly severe, prompting the United States to begin an effort to send food to Europe's starving citizens.  Thus began the publishing of a series of posters and lithographs calling for Americans to save food for the troops and those in Europe.  This movement became one of patriotism and national pride. 


Upon the United States entering the war in 1917, the U.S. Food Administration was created in order to support the immense need for food on the warfront.  This conservation project targeted communities with propaganda and posters encouraging people to limit their consumption of essential foods, most notably, wheat, meat, fats, and sugar as shown by several of the posters.  Slogans and catchphrases were created to inspire people to consume less so the shipments of food could be made to Europe.


The World War 1 poster project was a massive community effort that played to the ideals of the American society in the early 20th Century. 

Text: America's food pledge, 20 million tons - we have promised to feed the hungry millions of Europe--the Allies and liberated nations - Save food - two-thirds more than last year from stocks no larger - United States Food Administration
Artist Unknown
America's Food Pledge, 20 Million Tons - United States Food Administration
color lithograph on paper
30 x 20 in. (76.1 x 50.8 cm)
Gift of Mr. Maurice F. Lyons
Francis Louis Mora
Don't Let Up - Keep on Saving Food - United States Food Administration
color lithograph on paper
20 7/8 x 14 1/8 in. (53 x 35.8 cm)
Gift of Mr. Maurice F. Lyons
Artist Unknown
Don't Stop Saving Food - United States Food Administration
color lithograph on paper
29 15/16 x 20 in. (76 x 50.8 cm)
Gift of Mr. Maurice F. Lyons
Text: War Rages in France - We Must Feed Them - They cannot fight & raise food at the same time - Denying ourselves only a little means Life to them - United States Food Administration
Harry Everett Townsend
War Rages in France - We Must Feed Them - United States Food Administration
color lithograph on paper
29 15/16 x 20 1/8 in. (76 x 51 cm)
Gift of Mr. Maurice F. Lyons
John E. Sheridan
Food is Ammunition--Don't Waste It
color lithograph on paper
36 1/16 x 24 1/16 in. (91.5 x 61 cm)
Gift of Mr. Maurice F. Lyons
Text: Eat less, and let us be thankful that we have enough to share with those who fight for freedom - United States Food Administration
Albert Hendee
Eat Less, and let us be thankful that we have enough to share with those who fight for freedom - United States Food Administration
color lithograph on paper
28 15/16 x 21 1/8 in. (73.5 x 53.5 cm)
Gift of Mr. Maurice F. Lyons
John E. Sheridan
Food is Ammunition--Don't Waste It
color lithograph on paper
29 9/16 x 20.9 in. (75 x 53.2 cm)
Gift of Mr. Maurice F. Lyons
Text: Food Will Win the War - You cam here seeking Freedom - You must now help to preserve it - Wheat is needed for the allies - Waste nothing - United States Food Administration
Charles Edward Chambers
Food Will Win the War - You cam here seeking Freedom - You must now help to preserve it - Wheat is needed for the allies - Waste nothing
color lithograph on paper
36 1/16 x 24 1/16 in. (91.5 x 61 cm)
Gift of Mr. Maurice F. Lyons
Text: What are YOU doing? The Kaiser is canned - Can Food - Can Vegetables, Fruit and the Kaiser too - Write for Free Book to National War Garden Commission - Washington, D.C. - Charles Lathrop Pack, President - P.S.Ridsdale, Secretary - (jars labeled) Tomatoes, Kaiser Brand Unsweetened, Peas
J. Paul Verrees
What are YOU doing? The Kaiser is canned - Can Food - Can Vegetables, fruit, and the Kaiser too - National War Garden Commission
color lithograph on paper
36 1/16 x 24 1/16 in. (91.5 x 61 cm)
Gift of Mr. Maurice F. Lyons
Text: Registered War Garden Under Protection of State Council of Defense - All the Ammunition doesn't come from the Power Factories - Feed Yourself - Be a Soldier of the Soil - A War Garden Will Do It - Exempt No Land - from The Chicago Evening Post - To destroy the food supply is to give comfort to the enemy - food will win the war - War Garden Committee - 120 W. Adams Street
Jay Norwood Darling
Registered War Garden Under Protection of State Council Defense - Food Will Win the War.
color lithograph on paper
28 x 22 1/16 in. (71 x 56 cm)
Gift of Mr. Maurice F. Lyons
Text: SAVE - 1-wheat, use more corn 2-meat, use more fish & beans 3- fats, use just enough 4-sugar, use syrups - and serve the cause of freedom - U.S. FOOD ADMINISTRATION
Frederick Gross Cooper
Save ... and serve the cause of freedom
color lithograph on paper
28 7/8 x 21 1/8 in. (73.3 x 53.5 cm)
Gift of Mr. Maurice F. Lyons
Text Excerpt: Farmers! Housewives! Children! - The President of the United States Appeals to You Personally - These extracts from the address of President Wilson should be read carefully by every one who produces or can produce food and by all who consume food: - MY FELLOW COUTRYMEN: The entrance of our own beloved country into the grim and terrible war for democracy and human rights which has shaken the world creates so many problems of natural life and action which call for immediate consideration and settlement that I hope you will permit me to address to you a few words of earnest counsel and appeal with regard to them. … (headers) Abundant Food Supplies Essential … Make Sure of Large Harvests … To Young Men and Boys … To the Farmers of the South … The Government to Cooperate … To the Middlemen .. To Every Household - The supreme test of the nation has come. We must all speak, act, and serve together! - Woodrow Wilson (signed) [Text Excerpted from the "Messag
Artist Unknown
Farmers! Housewives! Children! - The President of the United States Appeals to You Personally - United States Department of Agriculture
color lithograph on paper
30 x 21 3/16 in. (76.2 x 53.8 cm)
Gift of Mr. Maurice F. Lyons

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