Date: ca. 1910
Size: 19 x 25.5 inches
Artist: Herbert Paus
About the Poster: In an attempt to convince the American population to buy bonds and therefore finance the war effort, propaganda posters often resorted to guilting people into donating their money. Rather than advertising war bonds (which could cost thousands of dollars and were usually directed at the higher classes, large companies, and financial institutions), this poster asks that people buy war savings stamps. Different from postal savings stamps, they were still distributed through the Post Office and could be purchased at a much lower cost - making them more attainable to the "ordinary citizen".
About the Artist: Herbert Paus (1860-1944) "was a native of Minneapolis and got his first job as a cartoonist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Ambitious to become an illustrator, he enrolled in the Fine Arts School there, later found employment in a Chicago art studio. Eventually he moved to New York where he became a free lance illustrator. Paus had a strong sense of design, ideally suited to the many effective posters he painted during World War I. This approach, combined with a striking use of color, was carried over into his magazine illustrations and cover designs." (gus-stories.org)