Uncle Sam Wants YOU!
Dublin Core
Title
Uncle Sam Wants YOU!
Subject
American nursing recruitment posters and propaganda from World War II
Description
This collection is focused on representing only a few of the many posters and methods used to recruit nurses during World War II. Most of these posters and other methods of inspiring women to join the war effort were overtly positive and showed nursing as a noble and feminine way to serve. Some, though few, were representative of the true nature of the job, and the dangers and hardships that came with it.
Collection Items
Recruitment Propaganda
This poster was one of many pieces of propaganda used to encourage American women to serve as nurses in World War II. The nurse shown on the poster, circulated in 1943, represents the misguided view of military nursing that many Americans held at the…
A Shortage of Nurses
While this recruitment poster seems a bit melodramatic, it is likely one of the few most realistic recruitment posters that circulated during the war. The nurse on this poster looks tired, overwhelmed, and is dressed in olive drab with no skirt in…
Fighting Men Need Nurses
This poster is a typical recruitment poster for the period, aiming to grab the attention of viewers by showing the heroic deeds nurses do on the front, and by capturing interest through exemplifying the desperation of wounded American soldiers for…
Filling the Ranks
This poster is simple compared to some of the other recruitment propaganda used during World War II, but it carries a powerful message. Many feel that women who became nurses during the war were not breaking gender barriers, but the fact that they…