Which? Soldier or mechanic - enlist in the engineers and be both / LH. – Vintage Print
(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
This rare vintage poster captures Which? Soldier or mechanic - enlist in the engineers and be both / LH. in remarkable detail. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.
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Which? Soldier or mechanic - enlist in the engineers and be both / LH.
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The headline asks viewers to choose between two roles, "Soldier or Mechanic," and that either-or framing is what sets this poster apart from the many war appeals that simply urged men to fight. It pitched the Engineers as a branch where technical skill counted as much as courage, with men building roads and bridges, maintaining railways and motor vehicles, and keeping heavy equipment running. Because the poster is dated 1919, after the armistice, it likely belonged to the postwar period, when the Army still needed trained men and was recruiting for skilled trades. Recruiting appeals like this one show how the military tried to present service as a path to practical training.
| Created / published | Washington Barracks, D.C. : Engineer Reproduction Plant, U.S. Army, 1919. |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 print (poster) : lithograph, color. |
| Genre | War posters American 1910-1920.Lithographs Color 1910-1920. |
| Subjects | United States.--Army.--Corps of Engineers--Recruiting & enlistment--1910-1920. World War, 1914-1918--Recruiting & enlistment--United States. World War, 1914-1918--Engineering & construction--United States. Men--Employment--1910-1920. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 3,786 × 4,735 px · prints to 13 × 16 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-221037 |
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