Recruitment and Fundraising Posters, World War One

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0099 KCLMA World War One Posters
Held at	: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.kingscollections.org/catalogues/lhcma ›
Full title	: Recruitment and Fundraising Posters, World War One
Date(s)	: [1914-1916]
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 119 posters
Name of creator(s)	: Parliamentary Recruiting Committee x Parliamentary War Savings Committee

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Parliamentary Recruiting Committee (PRC), was set up following the outbreak of war in August 1914. This was a cross-party organisation chaired by the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith. It utilised the party infrastructure in parliamentary constituencies to support recruitment - party activists were called upon to distribute leaflets, and organise rallies, processions and public meetings. The PRC commissioned some 200 posters, mostly published before the introduction of conscription, Jan 1916. In Jul 1915, the PRC became the Parliamentary War Savings Committee.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Recruitment and fundraising posters, World War One, 1914-1916, including Parliamentary Recruiting Committee posters and Parliamentary War Savings Committee posters. The posters are full colour and are designed as postive and negative propaganda to aid recruitment and encourage donation to the war effort and were aimed at domestic civilian audiences. Highlights include posters referring to the sinking of the liner, the Lusitania, appeals to assist in the defence of Belgium, examples of alleged German atrocities, and representations of Britain, British families and the British way of life thought to be under threat.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Arranged in sections as follows: recruitment posters and fundraising posters.

Conditions governing access:

Open. Visitors are required to provide proof of ID and sign an undertaking form.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be provided for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archives and Information Management, King's College London.

Finding aids:

Box list available in the LHCMA reading room.

Archival Information

Archival history:

The posters were collected by the Reverend Kenneth G Hamilton (1892-1975), while working as a YMCA chaplain during World War One, and at some stage were placed with the Moravian Church of North America.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Received from the Moravian Church of North America, 2006.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Entry compiled by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Jun 2008