October 31, 2011 By Mary Jo Gibson This week’s Museum Monday
takes a virtual tour of World War archives and propaganda,
supplied by the Chicago Institute of Art, the British National
Archives and the National Archives of the United States.
Propaganda of the World Wars is recognized in the form of war
posters, but at the core is a style of communication aimed at
influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or
position. Although propaganda is often used to manipulate human
emotions by displaying facts selectively, it can also be
effective at conveying messages. People encounter posters in
places other media could not reach – schools, factories,
offices, store windows and locations outside the scope of paid
advertising. During WWI, posters were a primary form of public
communication, but by 1940 posters had been supplanted by radio,
movies and billboards. The Ministry of Information, the central
government department responsible for publicity and propaganda,
was formed in Britain the day after their