First World War posters at Te Papa: Tuhinga 23

Tuhinga 23: 69-84

ABSTRACT: This paper examines a collection of international First World War posters held by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa), in terms of its provenance, reception and display at the end of, and in the years immediately after, the First World War (1914–19). The paper details how and why the posters entered the Dominion Museum (now Te Papa) in 1918–19, their subsequent display from 1921 to 1924, and how they were received during this period. The posters came to New Zealand as a result of transnational networks that existed in the British Empire. They were intended for the national collection and display in a hoped for national war museum because they could illustrate important aspects of the war. However, their function and meanings shifted as they moved from the streets to museums and exhibitions. They became markers of imperial effort and relationships, but also reminders of the emotions of the war years. The paper discusses reasons for this memorialising impulse and continuing engagement with war posters. The colourful and dramatic international posters in the collection are briefly compared to New Zealand’s comparatively plain letterpress printed posters. The lack of pictorial content in New Zealand’s posters, and the New Zealand government’s reliance on imported posters for recruitment purposes, has led to absences in the relevant literature, which this paper addresses.

KEYWORDS: First World War, New Zealand, British Empire, Te Papa, Dominion Museum, propaganda, war posters, recruitment, transnationalism.