About the images

A collection of original First World War posters is to be digitised by Inverclyde Council’s McLean Museum.

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The 300 posters, created during the First World War and immediately afterwards, will be available to view online thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of £51,300.

The posters show the vast range of messages being promoted in the lead up and during the conflict, from recruitment posters urging men to join up to promotional posters calling for people to help fund the fighting through war bonds.

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The digital poster collection will be available to view online next year. It will form a key part of Scotland’s commemoration of the 2014 centenary of the start of the Great War.

A poster from the First World War.
Published by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, London in 1915. Printed by David Allen & Sons Ltd., Harrow. (McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock)
A poster from the First World War.
Poster designed by Charles Livingston Bull (1874-1932). Printed by Heywood, Strasser & Voigt Lithographics Company, New York. Published by the United States Food Administration in 1917. (McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock)
A poster from the First World War.
Poster published as no.107 by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, London in 1915. (McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock)
A poster from the First World War.
Published as poster no.5 by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, London in 1914. (McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock)
A poster from the First World War.
First World War period propaganda poster created as no. 54 published by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, London in 1915. (McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock)
A poster from the First World War.
Published as no. 127 by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee in 1915 and printed by Bemrose and Sons Ltd., London and Derby. (McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock)
A poster from the First World War.
Published as no. 120 by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, London in 1915. (McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock)
A poster from the First World War.
United States fundraising propaganda lithograph poster designed by Gerrit Albertus Beneker (1882-1934) for the Victory Loan Campaign 1919. (McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock)
A poster from the First World War.
Poster published by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, London in 1915. The female figure rising from the sea to offer a sword, with a sinking ship and drowning victims in the distance, is a possibly a reference to the sinking of the LUSITANIA. (McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock)
A poster from the First World War.
Issued by the National War-Savings Committee, Ottawa, Canada in 1918. (McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock)
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