Ephemera

War Savings Certificates leaflet
1940s, Aerial theatre, After 1950, Books, Ephemera, Nuclear, biological, chemical, Periodicals

This might have been a bomb

A bit of aerial theatre from Dan Todman’s (excellent) Britain’s War: Into Battle, 1937-1941: Newton Abbot, Devon, February 1941. The town is holding its War Weapons Week to promote the National Savings movement. It has been set the aim of increasing savings by £100,000 during seven days. To publicize the event, local organizers arrange a […]

White Australia and the Empty North (1909)
1900s, 1910s, Art, Australia, Ephemera, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Pictures, Plays

Australia and the airship — IV

The previous post in this series was supposed to be the last. But in the course of taking two months to write it, I managed to forget about another, earlier association between a White Australia and an Australian airship. This one wasn’t a real airship; it was a fictional one which appeared in Randolph Bedford’s

Shori Arai, Maintenance Work aboard Aircraft Carrier II (c. 1943)
1940s, Art, Ephemera, Pictures

Preparing for take-off

Apropos of nothing, here’s a (somewhat cropped) c. 1943 painting by a Japanese artist named Shori Arai. (Sometimes called Maintenance Work aboard Aircraft Carrier II, though clearly it’s not maintenance that’s going on there.) The original is held by the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. It was also issued as a postcard by the

Keep Calm and Carry On
1930s, 1940s, Books, Ephemera, Periodicals, Pictures

1939 vs. 1940

The Guardian has published a very interesting piece by Owen Hatherley on the ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ phenomenon, an extract from his new book, The Ministry of Nostalgia: Consuming Austerity. He persuasively locates the poster within the context of an ‘austerity nostalgia […] a yearning for the kind of public modernism that, rightly or

Abolish all war aeroplanes
1930s, Civil aviation, Disarmament, Ephemera, Periodicals, Pictures

For what?

I found this pro-disarmament poster on eBay (at US$1985, I won’t be buying it!) The text reads: THE TRANSPORT OF THE FUTURE. FOR WHAT? DEATH AND DESTRUCTION OR FRIENDSHIP AND PEACE Abolish All War Aeroplanes This is the seller’s own description: An incredibly rare original vintage anti-war poster circa 1938 in fine condition, archivally mounted

Art.IWM PST 12220
1910s, Archives, Australia, Ephemera, Pictures

The fine print

FREE TRIP TO EUROPE; INVITATIONS ISSUED TO-DAY or ALL ELIGIBLE MEN Will be Given FREE CLOTHING, FOOD, MONEY, STEAMER AND TRAIN ACCOMMODATION, AND A TRIP FULL OF ADVENTURE AND INTEREST, FORMING THE GREATEST EVENT OF THEIR LIVES, TO DO THEIR DUTY AT THE PLACE WHERE EVERY FIT AUSTRALIAN SHOULD BE — STANDING SHOULDER TO SHOULDER

The Field of Mons
1910s, Conferences and talks, Ephemera, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Pictures, Radio, Rumours, The road to war

The road to war — III

My third contribution to ABC New England’s ‘The road to war’ series is now online. Today I looked at the events of 20-26 August 1914, focusing particularly on events in Belgium: the march of the German 1st Army through Brussels, 320,000-strong; more German atrocities against civilians, as well as the burning of the library at

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