Americans All!/Victory Liberty Loan
Artist
Howard Chandler Christy
United States, 1873 - 1952
Printer
Forbes, Boston
United States
Date1919
Dimensions39 3/4 x 26 3/4 in. (101 x 67.9 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of Peter A. Blatz
Object numberPH.85
DescriptionThe aim of this poster, proclaiming “Americans All!” was to attract support from immigrants for the Victory Liberty Loan, the fifth and final issue of Liberty Bonds; it was introduced by the U.S. Treasury in May 1919, six months after the Armistice, to consolidate outstanding war debts. Howard Chandler Christy shows the heroic, neoclassical figure of Columbia clutching a fold of the United States flag in one hand and raising a laurel wreath with the other over the “Honor Roll” of names of immigrants from many countries who have made significant financial contributions to the war effort. Columbia preceded the Statue of Liberty as the emblem of America, first as a champion of the aspirations and westward ambitions of the new nation; by the late 19th century, she was deployed in numerous images urging new immigrants to support American causes and values. Several American posters appealed specifically to immigrants during World War I and were sometimes published in several languages to reach a wide audience. Christy was best known for his portraits of Jazz Age socialites and celebrities as well as of such distinguished political figures as Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin D. Roosevelt and for his magazine illustrations featuring a society woman known as “the Christy girl.” He designed many other celebrated fundraising and enlistment posters during World War I. On View
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