TV programs would make you believe stuff like that happens every day … it just never happens to us.
But it has happened in Greencastle, and the Putnam County Museum has become the beneficiary.
Museum Executive Director Tanis Monday says Jeff Bray and William Tucker, members of Greencastle American Legion Post 58, were cleaning out the attic at the building when they came upon something quite special.
“They came in and said, ‘We’ve got some old pictures,’” Monday told the Banner Graphic (http://bit.ly/OQsKrR ). “I was thinking, ‘Pictures, OK … probably Putnam County Legion pictures blown up.’”
But she went down to the Legion post to investigate the find.
“Then I saw these posters and said, ‘Oh my goodness.’”
What the Legion cleanup crew had discovered in the attic were more than 40 World War I-era posters, urging Americans to buy U.S. Government Bonds through the Third Liberty Loan program.
Fourteen of them, in varying sizes, are now hanging on the wall of the Putnam County Museum at 1105 N. Jackson St.
“It’s like our own little ‘Treasures in the Attic’ story,” Monday offered.
The great thing about the find is that someone at the Legion saved those posters not once but probably twice. They could easily have found their way into the trash or a private collection over the past 50 or 60 years.
The posters, created in 1918 and 1919, were framed by the company Cartwright & Pease in 1940. Sometime, likely in the 1960s or 1970s when the Legion building was built on Indianapolis Road, the posters were moved and stored away in the attic.
“Fortunately they cleaned out the attic,” Monday said of Legion members, “and had the presence of mind to think, ‘We want to share this history with others.’”
Examples of the posters include a flag-draped soldier with the message “Over the Top for You,” and a little girl whose daddy bought her a bond, “Did yours?”
Monday checked the Internet for dates and information, discovering the Third Liberty Loan initiative began April 5, 1918.
Many of the posters are discolored by age and some have water damage, but then again, they are nearly 100 years old now.
One of the best examples is a colorful poster that proclaims, “Over the Top for You” and features a soldier wrapped in an American flag.
Created in 1918, it carries the signature of artist Sidney H. Riesenberg in the lower left corner, along with the “Buy U.S. Government Bonds” message of the Third Liberty Loan effort.
Another artful piece features a crouching Boy Scout prominently holding a sword captioned “Weapons for Liberty.”
Still another poster features a nurse holding the handles of a stretcher, proclaiming “Hold Up Your End” and noting the goal of War Fund Week was $100 million.
A couple of the posters even took aim at conserving food products. One, depicting a loaf of bread and a bread knife, carries the tagline: “Save a loaf a week, help win the war.”
Still another offers nothing but text and advises Americans to save wheat, meat, fats and sugar … “and serve the cause of freedom.”
Another interesting poster depicts a father and his Doughboy son with the caption, “Goodbye, Dad, I’m off to fight for Old Glory, you buy U.S. Government Bonds.”
All generations were touched upon by the campaign as one of the better posters features a little girl clutching a bond to her chest. It is headlined, “My Daddy bought me a Government Bond, did yours?”
The posters are on loan to the museum for an indefinite amount of time. But they have already made an impression on Monday.
“They’re really quite amazing, in my opinion,” she said.
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Information from: (Greencastle) Banner Graphic, http://www.bannergraphic.com
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-08-20-12 1417GMT
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