1B1: The Sights and Sounds of WWI Propaganda Posters

Our project involves the digitization, narrativization, and analysis of a recently discovered collection of 130 original WWI propaganda posters at the University of Alabama. We are currently in the process of constructing an immersive, multi-media web portal that provides the rich historical context and visual description necessary to bring this collection back to life. Although multiple archives of WWI posters exist online, historian Pearl James laments that “the images are left to speak for themselves, raising more questions than they answer” (World War I Posters and Visual Culture, 3). In order to respond to this aperture, we will author short compositional interpretations for each poster, and code the collection for the usage of visual and verbal rhetorical strategies to mobilize audiences in support of war. In our presentation, we hope to unveil the completed website, and share tentative research findings. Given the symposium’s special focus on the American Heartland, we will explore the theme of food (in)security dramatized in the posters.