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WW I Patriotic & Propaganda Postcards


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One of my favorites designed by Xavier Sanger. This card titled "Brothers and Sisters" is one of six postcards, designed by Sanger, in a series called "Amitie Franco-Americaine" (French-American Friendship).

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"Raising Hogs in Germany" is another card in the rather long string of "With the Colors" YMCA printed postcards.

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Most recruits who entered the Army during WW I rarely did household chore prior to their service. In the Army they were compelled to carry out domestic duties (like washing one's clothes) that had previously only been done by wives, mothers and sweethearts. Thus soldiers cooking, cleaning and doing laundry became a much repeated postcard theme.

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Marching, the shoes they marched in, and the result of both on their tired and sore feet was another common postcard theme.

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There are loads of WW I postcards with a blank pennant, on which the sender would write his whereabouts, that either begged for a letter or informed the recipient how much he missed home and hearth.

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A Navy themed postcard ensuring that whoever sees it is aware of the fact that they too served in France during the Great War.

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This is the second of six "Mode Americaine" (which translates into "American Fashion") postcards designed by Xavier Sanger during WW I.

 

Each depicts a different take on fashionable female attire ala stars & stripes as envisioned by the French.

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The get-up in this third "Mode Americaine" postcard, seems to have been inspired by the uniform worn by American volunteer ambulance and truck drivers in the American Field Service who served in France prior to 1917.

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The fourth (of six) "Mode Americaine" postcards. Other than being based on the American stars & stripes, I can't even begin to describe what it is.

 

The fifth card in this series is on its way to me as I type, and I've yet to track down number six.

 

That's it for this weeks session … I'll post more soon.

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Sorry I don't have more to contribute here, but I do enjoy seeing these cards. Love to see more. I haven't had much chance to look for any lately, but certainly plan to keep my eyes open.

Mikie

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world war I nerd

Time for another installment of patriotic postcards ...

 

I'll kick things off with the fifth in a six French postcard series designed by Xavier Sanger titled, "Mode Americaine" (American Fashion). Although I know what it looks like, the final card in this series still hasn't come across my radar screen yet.

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This 1909 postmarked, pre-WW I Navy card is titled "In Port".

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A postcard designed by Bernardt Wall, in which Uncle Sam is portrayed as a waiter serving up the "Best of the Land" to his military men.

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One more of the "With the Colors" YMCA cards, showing a squad of soldiers singing around a campfire.

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This card oozing with home sickness and loneliness was designed by Archie Gunn.

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I'm not entirely sure what message this comic postcard was trying to impart onto its viewers. Maybe something to do with imbibing spirits?

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I think this is the second card in another six card Xavier Sanger series. The set is called "Amitie Franco Americaine" or "French American Friendship".

 

This particular card is titled, "La favori de jour" ("Favorite of the day").

 

I forgot to mention that this card has a 1918 Italian postmark.

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The third card in the "Amitie Franco Americaine" series is titled, "The departure of two heros". For what it's worth, this postcard also features a 1918 Italian postmark.

 

Maybe that's because I bought them from a postcard dealer in Italy!

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"The American Ace", the fourth example of six "Amitie Franco Americaine" postcards. I have a line on the last two in this series, but I'm hoping to find them elsewhere for a cheaper price.

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Another card from what I've been calling the "child soldier" series. I think this example makes four that I've posted so far, and I know of at least two others.

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A 1918 postmarked humorous depiction of bayonet training in the U.S. Army.

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This French made postcard is entitled, "Accord Parfait" or the "Perfect Agreement". Its design is credited to the artist Cheri Herourad. The style of the painting, however, looks remarkably like that of the other French postcard artist Xavier Sanger. Perhaps one artist was inspired by the other?

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A 1918 postmarked, red, white and blue postcard with patriotic verse.

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Last card of the day … Another (different) child soldier military postcard.

 

Hard to believe, but there are still a lot more WW I era patriotic postcards to come, so stay tuned.

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Navy card designed by Bernhardt Wall.

 

Aside from five other WW I era postcards designed by Wall, which I've not yet posted, as far as I know, all the cards designed by him have already been posted elsewhere in this topic.

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One of a number of cards designed to inform lonely Army recruits that they are missed by the folks at home.

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1917 postmarked card depicting a patriotic bull terrier.For reasons unknown to me, that breed of dog was selected to represent the strength, toughness, and resolution of the American people.

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The majority of WW I postcards designed by Archie Gunn relied heavily on the theme of loneliness and homesickness, like this example of soldiers viewing a snapshot of an individual they left behind.

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This Archi Gunn postcard depicts a military man daydreaming about his sweetheart.

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Loads of postcards exploited common military terms by using them humorously in the card's caption as a double entendre.

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This postcard printed in France, designed by Jean Tam is part of a six card series titled, "The Sammies in Paris".

 

The nickname "Sammy" (after Uncle Sam), which was bestowed upon the American soldier by the French, was universally despised by the average American soldier Over There. The British nickname "Yank", was tolerated, but it too was also generally disliked. Numerous other nicknames such as "Teddy's" (after Teddy Roosevelt) and "Amex's" (after the American Expeditionary Forces) were tried, but they never stuck either. For reasons unknown the nickname of "Doughboy", whose origin remains obscure, was the name that the men of the AEF ultimately preferred.

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Many card designers relied heavily on verse and rhymes in respect to coming up with a catchy captions. Most of the odes printed across the front of patriotic postcards were simplistic or rudimentary at best.

 

Good luck symbols, such as the horseshoe or four leaf clovers shown in the upper left-hand corner of this card were thought to help bolster the spirit of both the sender and the recipient.

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Another USMC themed postcard relying on artwork that was commissioned by the Marine Corps.

 

This example along with the next post, and the five cards previously posted, all seem the be from the same series. Two more, which I have and will post in the future, along with two other scans of eBay listings that I didn't bid high enough on, brings the total of USMC postcards in this series, that I'm aware of, up to ten.

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This card from the above mentioned USMC series was based on a well know Marine Corps recruiting poster.

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Another postcards proclaiming the importance of the soldier's mail.

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1918 postmarked card depicting another child soldier worn out by another long day of training to be a Doughboy.

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All of these child soldier cards were designed by an artist named Charles Twelvetrees. So far, I've encountered at least ten different child soldier postcards.

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Another "With the Colors" YMCA Card.

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"Accord Parfait" (Perfect Agreement) is a French postcard series designed by Xavier Sanger. Each of the six cards in the series featured a different Allied soldier (American, British, French, Belgium, Russia & Italy) kissing a young French woman. This example is, of course, the American soldier.

 

That's it for this bath of cards. Hard to believe, but there are still more patriotic postcards to come ...

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Looks like there is plenty of material out there to keep this going for a while.

Just a question of finding them. I've been keeping my eyes open but haven't seen anything in a while.

Mikie

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Every week, it seems that a dozen or so postcards that I've never seen before turn up on eBay every week. There's also a number of online postcard vendors, located here in the U.S and overseas in Europe, each of which usually has a fair selection of "military" postcards that are updated on a regular basis.

 

I counted this afternoon and I currently have over 350 different WW I patriotic & propaganda postcards, nearly all of which are centered around either the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps, or one of the wartime American charitable organizations.

 

I'm actually amazed at the variety and scope, in respect to the diverse subject matter and the multitude of artistic style in which these postcards were produced … and I'm only talking about the postcards whose images are composed primarily of original artwork and original graphics. I keep hoping that I'll reach a point when it's rare to find something new to add to the collection. So far that hasn't happened.

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I'll start off with the first of four postcards tugging on the heart-strings of "Mother"

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Bidding farewell to mom.

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Mom bidding farewell to her soldier son.

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And with two sons serving in the armed forces of the United States, mom was also a patriot.

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Now a pair of cards in the red, black and white series devoted to Uncle Sam raining on Kaiser Wilhelm's parade. This example shows America's Uncle standing over a Kaiser-dachshund mutt.

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This one depicts Uncle Sam landing a punch on the Kaiser's "snot-box".

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This postcard designed by Bernhartd Wall pokes fun at the heavy loads that were often carried by marching soldiers.

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A comic postcard displaying a number of possibilities as to how a soldier might spend his monthly pay.

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The only explanation that I can come up with for this card is that it has something to do with the large number of women who entered the work force while the majority of young men were away training for, or overseas fighting on the Western Front.

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Another "Greetings from Camp (fill in the blank) postcard. This one has a 1919 postmark.

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A Belgian postcard depicting the flags of the England, the United States, France and Belgium.

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A "missing you" themed card with a not so good rhyming caption.

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One of a number of post Armistice "Victory" postcards.

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Yet another Xavier Sanger series of postcards titled, "Les Allies & Paris". This is the only card of the six in the series that features American soldiers.

 

The remaining five postcards show the soldiers of France, England, Belgium, Italy and Russia mingling with the female population of France during WW I.

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This is the last card for this round, but there are still more to come ...

 

An unusual YMCA "With the Colors" postcard that combines a tinted photo f a soldier brandishing a pistol with an illustration of the American flag.

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I'll begin this week's offerings with a few AEF infantry Division oriented postcards - all of which I tried valiantly to purchase on eBay, but I was only able to secure the 77th Division card. Therefore the other three postcards are the scans of three different eBay sellers.

 

A 1st Division postcard boasting of that division's accomplishments while "Over There".

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A 2nd Division postcard listing a number of the attributes possessed by the Doughboys & Marines within that division.

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A 1919 copyrighted congratulatory postcard printed for the returning veteran of the 77th Division.

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A postcard probably printed during the occupation of Germany depicting an 81st Division 'Wildcat' tearing a piece out of the German war effort.

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This postcard pays tribute to the American nurses who served in France with the AEF, or with one of the many charitable organizations such as the Red Cross during the Great War.

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The first of two Xavier Sanger postcards, both of which are part of a six card series titled "Proverbes Americains". This example is titled, "Damned who thinks evil".

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This one is titled, "Business is business".

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I know this Lewis Gun toting U.S. Marine postcard is a repeat, but the previous example was an eBay seller's scan that I was unable to win. This one, however, I did win.

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A French made postcard proclaiming, "HURRAH! for the United States of America".

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Another French made postcard showing the soldiers and flags of France & the United States. The American soldier, however, is wearing British service dress with canvas leggings and a Campaign Hat, which the majority of the French population referred to as a "chapeau du cowboy".

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Another Archie Gunn designed postcard bearing a brave soldier boy off the defeat the "Hun" and his true-blue sweetheart who'll be left behind to fret & worry.

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