Rare collection to be displayed at Grove City
GROVE CITY — Grove City College will present a gallery show from Monday to March 24 featuring a selection of vintage World War II propaganda posters that were “lost” for decades.
More than 170 posters designed to inspire Americans on the home front to support the war effort on their jobs, in their homes and in their hearts and minds were discovered last year in a locked drawer in the rare book room of the college's Henry Buhl Library.
The posters are representative of those that were widely distributed between 1941 and 1945 by the Office of Wartime Information to factories, schools, post offices and libraries.
“Fighting for Freedom: Grove City College's World War II Exhibit” is open to the public from noon to 5 p.m. March 17, noon to 4 p.m. March 19, 20 and 23; 2 to 6 p.m. March 18; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 21; and 1 to 5 p.m. March 22.
Their value is estimated in the tens of thousands of dollars, but as cultural and historical artifacts illustrating the role that civilians and community institutions like Grove City College played in supporting the war effort, they are priceless, college officials said.They are still evaluating the posters and considering what to ultimately do with the collection. A digital library that can be accessed by students, scholars and the public is likely.To see a gallery of some of the posters, visit www.gcc.edu/warposters.
