Enlist in the Navy
Designer Unknown, Smith & Porter Press, Boston
1917
DIMENSIONS
19 3/4 x 12 in. (50.2 x 30.5 cm)
OBJECT NUMBER
PH.54
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
United States
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Peter A. Blatz
KEYWORDS
-

This enlistment poster was one of several issued by the City of Boston Committee on Public Safety during the engagement of the United States in World War I from April 1917 to November 1918. Nonetheless, it is not a Boston monument but the Statue of Liberty that stands here as a beacon of hope, as suggested by the beams of light radiating from her torch as she towers against the New York city skyline and over a naval patrol boat. (There are several variations of the image.) Between the construction of the statue of Liberty in 1886 and the entry of the United States into the war, New York and its landmarks often represented the whole country in posters and other popular imagery. During World War I, the city typically featured in patriotic posters encouraging enlistment and the purchase of war bonds.

For inquiries about image licensing, please contact collections@posterhouse.org.

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