Snapshots of the Past

Keep em going! / Ketterlinus Phila. – Vintage Poster

Keep em going! / Ketterlinus Phila., 1917 — vintage poster
Keep em going! / Ketterlinus Phila., 1917. Vintage poster from the Vintage War & Advertising Posters collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Step back in time with Keep em going! / Ketterlinus Phila., a vintage poster rich in period detail. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

Framed, it is ready for the wall; unframed, it is ready for the frame you choose. It brings character to any room and makes a memorable gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past has been bringing history to the wall since 2001, for tens of thousands of customers worldwide.

Keep em going! / Ketterlinus Phila.

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Few posters make the war's industrial effort as blunt as this one, which equates a disabled locomotive with a Prussian soldier and a working engine with an American one. Printed in Philadelphia by the Ketterlinus firm in 1917, it carries the name of William Gibbs McAdoo, Director General of Railroads, whose office ran the nation's rail lines after the government took them over in late 1917 to move troops and supplies to Europe. The message urges railroad workers to keep engines in service and to repair them quickly, treating maintenance as a form of combat. Its bold color and simple comparison show how wartime propaganda turned ordinary labor into patriotic duty.

Created / published1917
Medium1 print (poster) : lithograph color ; 77 x51 cm.
NotesEvery bad order locomotive is a Prussian soldier. Every live locomotive is an American soldier. Let us get on top of the Prussian locomotives and make American soldiers out of them. W.G. McAdoo Director General of Railroads. · McAdoo William Gibbs 1863-1941.
SubjectsWorld War 1914-1918--Economic & industrial aspects--United States. World War 1914-1918--Transportation. Railroad locomotives--1910-1920.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Posters: Artist Posters
Original scan720 × 892 px
Reference1035_Keep_em_going_Ketterl_1917.tif-S

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