Poster, 'All About W.S.S.'

A rational plea

This First World War poster was created by the United States Government to advertise the sale of Treasury Department war saving stamps to help fund the country's participation in the war. These stamps were mainly aimed at common citizens.

The text-dominated poster does not rely on patriotic and emotive images to pull on the conscience of citizens, as do many First World War posters advertising the stamps. Instead, it rationally outlines information about the stamps, practical reasons for buying them, and how, when and where to purchase them.

British and American Posters in New Zealand

This item is part of a collection of First World War posters sent to New Zealand as examples of British and American propaganda. From 1917-1919, the Dominion Museum (now Te Papa) collected such war material with the help of the New Zealand High Commissioner in London and the Department of Defence. This particular poster arrived with the second batch of posters of over one hundred British and American war posters, sent by the High Commissioner in London via the Department of Internal Affairs in June 1919 and New Zealand War Records Section in London (Department of Defence).

The museum intended to collect and display such objects in a planned national war museum in Wellington which never eventuated. Instead, the museum toured over 100 war posters around New Zealand in the early 1920s in the context of increasing commemoration of the war during peacetime. For many, the posters illustrated important aspects of the war and the history of New Zealand's part in the war. This commemorative function was far removed from their original function to encourage wartime contribution.