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World War One Visual
Culture, U.S.A. 1917-1919
By Doug Boilesen 2022
On April 6, 1917, the United States
Congress voted to declare war on Germany joining the Allied Powers
fighting against the Central Powers, (a.k.a. the Quadruple Alliance
of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria) in what
was being called the “Great War.”
The World War had started nearly three
years earlier on July 28, 1914 and after its declaration of war it
would take some additional time for the United States to build up
its forces and deploy to the battlefields of Western Europe. Additionally,
the United States wanted to be in control of their own troops and
operate as independent units and as a result "the first significant
US involvement was the Meuse–Argonne offensive in late September 1918."
(Stevenson, David, "1914–1918: The History of the First World
War," Penguin, p. 403 (Wikipedia
- Ref 187).
The following are some visual culture
paper artifacts which reflect popular culture beliefs and practices
(particularly consumerism with respective advertisements) during the
time period from when the United States was officially at war until
the end of the war on November 11, 1918.
Any of the following items will enlarge,
if selected.
Note: Photoplay
Magazine was the leading Hollywood
fan magazine of the 1920s and 1930s.
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Take a KODAK with you.
Photoplay Magazine, October 1917
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Subterranean Cinema 90 Feet Under
Shell Torn Verdon, Photoplay Magazine, October 1917
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Movie promotion for "Fall
of the Romanoffs with Iliodor," Photoplay Magazine,
October 1917 revealing "the dawn of the Revolution in
which was born the Free Russia of today."
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Keep your Kodak Busy. Photoplay
Magazine, November 1917
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Pictures from Home. Photoplay
Magazine, December 1917
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A poem by a Canadian soldier who
is reading a Photoplay Magazine which "helps
him forget for awhile that he is somewhere in France,"
Photoplay Magazine, January 1918
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The Picture From Home.
Photoplay Magazine, March 1918
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Life Savers in the trench and
battle field, Photoplay Magazine, March 1918
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The Day of His Going. Photoplay
Magazine, April 1918
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The Kodak Letter. Photoplay
Magazine, May 1918
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Buy a Smileage
Book and give it to your soldier in the training camp.
Photoplay Magazine, July 1918
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Our boys in France crave sweets.
Photoplay Magazine, July 1918
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Life magazine, March
14, 1918
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Life magazine,
March 23, 1918
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Life magazine, December
19, 1918
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Cosmopolitan magazine,
February 1918
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McClure's Magazine, July
1918
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Life magazine, September
23, 1918
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Life magazine,
January 10, 1918
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McClure's Magazine, July
1918
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Send tobacco to Our Boys
in France, McClure's Magazine, July 1918
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Photoplay ad of German pamphlet
addressed to German people to only buy German cameras.
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Page 2 of ad translating pamphlet
- "There are no German Kodaks." Photoplay
Magazine, August 1918
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The Talking Machine World,
July 15, 1918
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“Caruso is singing
in the trenches of France tonight... The
Theatre Magazine, November 1918
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Columbia Grafonola, The Ladies'
Home Journal for January 1919
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“Caruso is singing in
the trenches of France tonight…Thousands of miles from home in a land
torn by battle, our boys yet listen to the spiritual voice of Art.
Through the Victrola, the mightiest arts in all the world sing to
them the hymn of victory, cheer them with their wit and laughter,
comfort and inspire them.” Victrola ad, The Theatre Magazine, November
1918 (PM-1944)
Columbia Grafonola, January
1919 - Visualizing with Songs Across the Sea (PM-0845)
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