We’ve recently begun initiating some programs at the museum to help keep the staff happy and healthy, including starting a Garden Club, of which I became a member. I joined because I don’t really know that much about gardening, but I really like growing things, especially things that I can eat. We were given space in one of our courtyards and managed to scrounge up the materials we needed to create the raised beds. Below are two images from the day we spent creating those beds, for which we had a pretty good and hardworking crowd. The first shot shows most of the group as we were nearly finished with the first bed, and the second shot shows the three completed beds. I’m really looking forward to planting and harvesting!

While we were working on creating the garden, I was constantly reminded how important gardening/farming is and how it has been used so much in WWII propaganda to support the war effort. In the last year I’ve spent quite a lot of time with our poster collection, and the WWII propaganda posters are some of my favorites, especially the ones that are geared towards civilians.

Part of what draws me to the posters in the images above are the vibrant colors. They’re very appealing. This was the government’s way of trying to increase food production and to allow for more food to be available for the troops fighting in the war. The great thing is that reproductions of these posters are available all over the internet, on Amazon, AllPosters, Art.com, etc. The real thing is harder to come across as these posters weren’t meant to stand the test of time and were printed on thin and fragile paper.

If anyone is interested in learning anymore about our posters, let me know and I can do another blog article on them. We’ve got some really great ones.