Making the World Safe for Democracy: Posters of the Great War in New Hampshire

An exhibition of World War I posters supplemented with photographs and memorabilia drawn from the Society’s collections, “Making the World Safe for Democracy” focuses on the use of propaganda in New Hampshire during the war. The exhibition of posters, collected as the war raged in Europe from 1914 to 1918, explores the use of this popular art form to shape public opinion and mobilize American citizens to fight a distant war. With powerful images and a few well-chosen words, these posters urged the people of New Hampshire to purchase liberty bonds, conserve food and raw materials, extend aid to those who suffered the war’s devastation, and enlist in the army, navy, and Red Cross. They also shaped people’s views about American ideals and defined a new, more vibrant patriotism that would characterize the American spirit for decades to come. This exhibition will be on display until October 2018.