What does a book mean to you? Is it simply something you read, or a cherished memento? Is it a meticulous record, or a whimsical amusement? A book can be many things and take on a life of its own. A book can transform and be transformative. It can also be a valentine. Curated by the Library Company’s conservation team, we explore The Living Book : New Perspectives on Form and Function, opening May 9th! 

Sigourney, L. H. (Lydia Howard), 1791-1865. The voice of flowers.  Hartford : H.S. Parsons and Co., 1848.

Artist and illustrator James Montgomery Flagg designed this and forty-five other posters for the war effort. This poster, titled Tell That to the Marines!, was issued with various street addresses directing potential enlistees to specific recruiting stations in their local area. In the summer of 1918 outside of the New York Public Library’s main entrance, Flagg painted a reproduction of this poster. The Marine Corps held recruiting rallies while he painted, and the finished work was displayed at the library to further encourage enlistment. 

Check out this poster and several others from our collection, on display now through April 21 as part of our current exhibition, Together We Win: The Philadelphia Homefront During the First World War. Free and open to the public. #WWIWednesday

Flagg, James Montgomery, 1877-1960, artist. Tell That to the Marines! ca. 1914-1919. 1 print: 39.75 X 28 in.

Take the Eat out of Wheat

Eating gluten-free is not a recent trend.The Food Administration during World War I promoted going wheatless.The ravages of the war led to a food crisis in Europe, and they desperately needed wheat.The United States also had over four million servicemen to feed.The Administration urged Americans to eat potatoes whenever possible (the weight of potatoes made them impractical to ship across the Atlantic Ocean). Corn, called the grain of America, could be used to make corn bread, griddle cakes, muffins, and other baked goods. “War bread” could contain any number of alternative flours, including rice, barley, rye, oats, potato, or buckwheat. Another aim of the Administration involved stopping food waste, especially of bread. If every one of the twenty million American households wasted one slice of bread that would equal 875,000 pounds of flour wasted! To curb this waste, many WWI-era recipes contain bread crumbs as an ingredient to use up stale or leftover bread.

Come see our current exhibition, Together We Win: The Philadelphia Homefront During the First World War, up now through April 21st.

Harrison, Lloyd, artist. Wholesome-Nutritious, Foods from Corn. [1918] 1 print: 29.5 X 19.5 in.

Officers of the Emergency Aid on Parade, ca. 1918. Gelatin silver photograph.

The Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania was one of numerous relief organizations founded by women to assist the war effort. Philadelphia’s branch included women from some of the city’s most prominent families. This organization raised money for the relief of America’s European allies. Once America entered the war, the organization sent medical supplies, clothing, tobacco, candy, and other treats overseas to the troops, sold war bonds, and supported local wartime industries. Here members of the Emergency Aid march in a parade along the north side of Philadelphia’s City Hall.

Located in Germantown, “Little Wakefield” served as a demonstration center for the National League for Woman’s Service teaching women “if you cannot be a fighting soldier, be a farming soldieress.” They held classes in home economics and canning and preserving, grew fruits and vegetables, and cultivated bees. They produced peas, beans, corn, cabbage, peaches, and raspberries on four acres. Today it is a part of La Salle University as the St. Mutien’s Christian Brothers’ residence.

Pancoast, Charles R., photographer. [Canning and preserving at demonstration center at Little Wakefield, Germantown] ca. 1918. 1 photographic print: gelatin silver mounted on cardboard.     

Even after the United States entered World War I in 1917, the American public was far from unified behind the cause. Intellectuals, labor leaders, progressive reformers and long-time isolationists were all vocal in their misgivings. In an effort to gain wider public support, President Wilson launched the Committee on Public Information in April 1917, headed by a former journalist, George Creel. The Committee was charged with promoting the “absolute justice of America’s cause, the absolute selflessness of America’s aims.” Historian Susan A. Brewer claims the Committee met its charge by conducting a “vast enterprise in salesmanship,” in which it “extolled American greatness and condemned German barbarism by using sensational stories of atrocity, which were later discredited.” (Brewer, 2011).

The above poster features a quote from President Wilson about the reach of German ambition followed by a pointed threat from the Kaiser. Wilson’s statement is from a speech he gave on Flag Day, June 14, 1917.

Check out the Library Company’s current exhibition, Together We Win, the Philadelphia Homefront During the First World War, on display through April 21st, free and open to the public.  

The World Cannot Live Half Slave, Half Free ca. 1914-1919 1 print: 30 X 20 in. Produced for the Committee of Public Safety   

For #WWIWednesday we share a paper doll of a Scottish soldier.

Companies could make their products even more appealing by tying them to the patriotic fervor of the American public. Children could collect and play with paper doll soldiers representing all of the Allied nations while enjoying Wilbur chocolates.

Soldiers of the Allies paper dolls (Scotland). Color letterpress, ca. 1918.  

Today we celebrate the birthday of our founder, Benjamin Franklin, born on this day 311 years ago! We love this 19th-century Staffordshire figurine of Franklin, which was featured in our 2015 exhibition Fashioning Philadelphia - The Style of the City, 1720-1940. He certainly looks fashionable in his vest with floral decoration and gold-striped breeches.

Benjamin Franklin figurine. Staffordshire, England, 19th c. Lead-glazed earthenware ; 14 inches H x 5 ½ inches W x 4 ¼ inches D.

Founded to provide assistance to Johnstown flood victims in 1889, the Women’s Permanent Emergency Association of Germantown turned its attention to Belgium refugees after the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The pace of relief efforts increased when America entered the war. By the end of the war, the group had sent overseas more than 65,000 hospital supplies, over 7,500 new garments, and 5,000 knitted articles along with books and food. 

J. M. Elliot, [The Women’s Permanent Emergency Association of Germantown], ca. 1919. Gelatin silver photograph. 

Visit the Library Company to see Together We Win: Philadelphia Homefront During the First World War, for more!  On display through April 21, 2017.

This aviator comes from a booklet illustrating new American machinery and the different branches of the military. Airborne fighting was a new addition in WWI, just over a decade after the Wright Brothers’ first flight in Kitty Hawk. 

Today we remember the brave airborne soldiers of WWI as well as those on the ground at Pearl Harbor in WWII, 24 years later. 

The army and the navy of the United States of America, 1917.  Newark, N.J. : The Prudential Insurance Company of America, ©1917.