Inciting Americans at home to do their part in producing for the war effort, the poster-inexpensive, accessible, and ever-present-was an ideal agent for making war aims the personal mission of every citizen. From 1941 to 1945, government agencies, businesses, and private organizations issued an array of poster images linking the military front with the home front, calling upon all Americans to boost production at work and at home. The U.S. Office of War Information created the "Poster Pledge," urging volunteers to "avoid poster waste," "treat posters as real war ammunition," and "never let a poster lie idle." This colorful collection of over 150 World War II-era posters focuses on the theme of wartime production on the home front. The range of designs and images will inspire graphic designers, while the descriptive captions and informative text will interest history and military buffs. Some of the famous slogans these posters introduced include "When you ride alone you ride with Hitler," "She won't talk-will you? The enemy has ears," "This is America... Keep it Free," and "Remember Pearl Harbor-purl harder!"

Design for Victory: World War II Posters on the American Home Front

William L. Bird

Harry R. Rubenstein

Reference

Princeton Architectural Press

What is the fascination of paint by numbers? Is it the intoxicating and compulsive act of filling in small pools of color? Or the easy thrill of creating your own impressionist masterpiece? Or a fond nostalgic yearning for a craze that cut across national boundaries and age groups? Invented in 1951 by Dan Robbins-based on an idea used by Leonardo da Vinci to teach painting-the paint-by-number craze reached its zenith in the 1950s but continues even today as paints and kits are avidly collected, exhibited in galleries, and traded on eBay. In Paint By Number, author Larry Bird takes us on an unbelievable journey where art meets kitsch and popular and high cultures collide in a collage of home economics, leisure time fun, and art education, Bird revisits the hobby from the vantage point of the artists and entrepreneurs who created the popular paint kits, the critics who reviled them, and the consumers who enthusiastically filled them in and hung them in their homes. Paint By Number includes over 200 examples of paint-by-number ephemera and two pull-out paintings ready to be filled-in!

Paint by Number: The How-To Craze that Swept the Nation

Arts & Photography

Painting

For millions of people the world over, the annual visit to a department store to view the festive window displays and visit Santa in his winter wonderland is a treasured holiday tradition. In America, the Thanksgiving holiday is almost inconceivable without Macy's annual parade. But how did holiday traditions like this begin? Who are the behind-the-scenes magicians that conjure up this unique blend of imagination, showmanship, and salesmanship? 
Holidays on Display is a comprehensive overview of the art and industry of the holiday display. Author William L. Bird, Jr., traces its evolution as holiday decorations moved from shop windows to building exteriors and out into the street in the form of parade floats. In this fascinating and colorful history we are introduced to turn-of-the-century "trimmers" hiredby merchants to maintain product displays, and we marvel as advances in lighting, animation, and miniaturization lead to the incredible feats of creative self-expression practiced by today's window artists. Packed with rarely seen photographs and ephemera, Holidays on Display makes it easy to see why we have such lasting emotional attachments to animated Christmas windows, passing parades, and the ambient glow of holiday lights.

Holidays on Display

Graphic Design

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Books by William L. Bird