The War Publicity Collection, Imperial War Museum, London
Lead Research Organisation:
Manchester Metropolitan University
Department Name: Resrch & Innov. in Art & Design(MIRIAD)
Abstract
A previously unrecognized but remarkable collection of First World 'War Publicity' was identified at the IWM during the research for the AHRC-funded project 'Posters of Conflict'. Collected between 1917 and 1922 by the museum's second director, L R Bradley, to 'record the War as far as possible by means of publicity matter of all forms and to show the great part played by advertising ...'. It comprises 35,989 posters, proclamations, press advertisements, cartoons and other promotional material employed in marketing, charitable and official campaigns in Britain, Empire, Central Powers and other combatant nations.
The collection was without precedent. Unlike comparable UK and European collections it eschewed the aesthetic concerns of the gallery or the professional concerns of the advertising trade. It aimed to create an all-encompassing and international document of wartime commercial and state-sponsored publicity to inform both professional practices and the memory of the war for the future. Over time its significance and magnitude was obscured by its dispersal across the IWM's Departments of Art and Printed Books. The project will draw together its elements and enhance our understanding and custodianship of a unique body of material belonging to our cultural heritage.
The First World War witnessed the new phenomenon of national governments adopting the techniques of advertising to promote war aims domestically and globally. The project will provide unique insights into the social, cultural, moral and ethical issues instantiated in the printed ephemera of all nations involved. It will evaluate the visual and technological mechanisms of publicity and propaganda at times of national crisis. It will assess the importance of the mass media in forming subject/citizen consumer identities in a context where the media were deployed to sell the war, and the war was deployed to sell products. Publicity, propaganda and advertising were produced by agencies as likely to engage in a government recruiting campaign as product advertising. The intention is not to examine the poster or advertising per se but to establish a theoretical framework to shape the study of the visual landscape of printed ephemera - a little remarked upon but significant component of modern and contemporary experience.
Aims and objectives:
1. assess and analyse the content of the original collection by researching the museum archives (Bradley's correspondence and accession records, eg).
2. build an understanding of how populations are harnessed to the national cause at times of national crisis through printed ephemera created on behalf of government departments, commerce, charities and voluntary organizations.
3. situate the collection, or a chosen aspect of it, in its international context, especially in relation to comparable initiatives by Fritz Ehmcke and Hans Sachs in Germany.
4. place the collection within historical and contemporary discourses and debates concerning advertising, propaganda, documentary and publicity as set out by government and the industry and recorded in the National Archive, the national, trade press and in the relevant literature.
5. consider the collection within current visual cultural theoretical debates relating to the archive, image, representation, identity and citizenship and the social, cultural, moral and ethical questions they raise (Derrida, Debray, Ranciere, Mitchell).
6. contribute to custodianship through enhanced critical and curatorial interpretation of the printed ephemera holdings presented on-line and in the public galleries.
Preliminary research as a result of AHRB Resource Enhancement Scheme is documented in Jim Aulich & John Hewitt, Seduction or Instruction? First World War Posters in Britain and Europe, (Manchester, 2007) and in 'Advertising and the Public in Britain during the First World War' i
The collection was without precedent. Unlike comparable UK and European collections it eschewed the aesthetic concerns of the gallery or the professional concerns of the advertising trade. It aimed to create an all-encompassing and international document of wartime commercial and state-sponsored publicity to inform both professional practices and the memory of the war for the future. Over time its significance and magnitude was obscured by its dispersal across the IWM's Departments of Art and Printed Books. The project will draw together its elements and enhance our understanding and custodianship of a unique body of material belonging to our cultural heritage.
The First World War witnessed the new phenomenon of national governments adopting the techniques of advertising to promote war aims domestically and globally. The project will provide unique insights into the social, cultural, moral and ethical issues instantiated in the printed ephemera of all nations involved. It will evaluate the visual and technological mechanisms of publicity and propaganda at times of national crisis. It will assess the importance of the mass media in forming subject/citizen consumer identities in a context where the media were deployed to sell the war, and the war was deployed to sell products. Publicity, propaganda and advertising were produced by agencies as likely to engage in a government recruiting campaign as product advertising. The intention is not to examine the poster or advertising per se but to establish a theoretical framework to shape the study of the visual landscape of printed ephemera - a little remarked upon but significant component of modern and contemporary experience.
Aims and objectives:
1. assess and analyse the content of the original collection by researching the museum archives (Bradley's correspondence and accession records, eg).
2. build an understanding of how populations are harnessed to the national cause at times of national crisis through printed ephemera created on behalf of government departments, commerce, charities and voluntary organizations.
3. situate the collection, or a chosen aspect of it, in its international context, especially in relation to comparable initiatives by Fritz Ehmcke and Hans Sachs in Germany.
4. place the collection within historical and contemporary discourses and debates concerning advertising, propaganda, documentary and publicity as set out by government and the industry and recorded in the National Archive, the national, trade press and in the relevant literature.
5. consider the collection within current visual cultural theoretical debates relating to the archive, image, representation, identity and citizenship and the social, cultural, moral and ethical questions they raise (Derrida, Debray, Ranciere, Mitchell).
6. contribute to custodianship through enhanced critical and curatorial interpretation of the printed ephemera holdings presented on-line and in the public galleries.
Preliminary research as a result of AHRB Resource Enhancement Scheme is documented in Jim Aulich & John Hewitt, Seduction or Instruction? First World War Posters in Britain and Europe, (Manchester, 2007) and in 'Advertising and the Public in Britain during the First World War' i
Planned Impact
L R Bradley's 'War Publicity Collection' forms a record of the First World War's (FWW) impact on publicity, propaganda and advertising as represented by pictures found in printed ephemera. The collection's international scope covering all the combatant nations gives it a global reach. Many advertisements, posters and show cards were originally targeted at specific local audiences, and will be of interest to individuals, manufacturers, local historians, museums and archives, and the publicity and advertising industries. The re-discovery and analysis of the 'War Publicity' collection will give unique insights into the relationship between conflict and publicity and the rise of mass consumer society.
As a national museum with an established track record in public access and communication, the Imperial War Museum (IWM) will ensure that this research will reach a substantial and broad audience both in the UK and internationally. The IWM has a highly regarded exhibitions programme, offers a strong education service for schools, and produces a range of publications aimed at a variety of audiences. Underpinning many of these activities is the much used website and its new access and study facility 'Explore History', which offers new displays and accessible interactive computer-based resources together with research access to collections, books and archives. The research will inform the interpretation and use of material in its public galleries.
For the doctoral student it is an excellent opportunity to develop a range of curatorial skills which would serve a museum career. Based in a national museum and benefiting from the expertise of highly skilled, experienced curators, the student would see an entire process through, from identification and cataloguing, to in depth collections research, to considering material for exhibition and communicating its interest and significance to the public. This is aside from transferable skills gained, such as negotiation and problem-solving through working as part of a project team. Museum staff will benefit from exposure to academic research methodologies, and increase their awareness of current research dialogues around this collection. Moreover, the research has the power shape attitudes and approaches for the review of existing collections and for future collecting. Academic supervisors will gain greater understanding of museum practice and issues in interpretation and public communication of collections.
The IWM's reputation for providing digital access to its collections is excellent. The identification, research and cataloguing of the Bradley collection will ensure this continues. Images from the Imperial War Museum collections are in constant demand for commercial use by the media, publishers and product designers as well as by academics, other museums, and smaller organisations such as charities, veterans' organisations and special interest groups. Experience of the cataloguing and digitisation of posters through the AHRB Resource Enhancement project 'Posters of Conflict' assures us that there will be significant demand for the wider Bradley Collection from the same range of users, as well as an increase in loan requests to exhibit the original items both within and outside the UK.
As a national museum with an established track record in public access and communication, the Imperial War Museum (IWM) will ensure that this research will reach a substantial and broad audience both in the UK and internationally. The IWM has a highly regarded exhibitions programme, offers a strong education service for schools, and produces a range of publications aimed at a variety of audiences. Underpinning many of these activities is the much used website and its new access and study facility 'Explore History', which offers new displays and accessible interactive computer-based resources together with research access to collections, books and archives. The research will inform the interpretation and use of material in its public galleries.
For the doctoral student it is an excellent opportunity to develop a range of curatorial skills which would serve a museum career. Based in a national museum and benefiting from the expertise of highly skilled, experienced curators, the student would see an entire process through, from identification and cataloguing, to in depth collections research, to considering material for exhibition and communicating its interest and significance to the public. This is aside from transferable skills gained, such as negotiation and problem-solving through working as part of a project team. Museum staff will benefit from exposure to academic research methodologies, and increase their awareness of current research dialogues around this collection. Moreover, the research has the power shape attitudes and approaches for the review of existing collections and for future collecting. Academic supervisors will gain greater understanding of museum practice and issues in interpretation and public communication of collections.
The IWM's reputation for providing digital access to its collections is excellent. The identification, research and cataloguing of the Bradley collection will ensure this continues. Images from the Imperial War Museum collections are in constant demand for commercial use by the media, publishers and product designers as well as by academics, other museums, and smaller organisations such as charities, veterans' organisations and special interest groups. Experience of the cataloguing and digitisation of posters through the AHRB Resource Enhancement project 'Posters of Conflict' assures us that there will be significant demand for the wider Bradley Collection from the same range of users, as well as an increase in loan requests to exhibit the original items both within and outside the UK.
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| James Aulich (Principal Investigator) |