For details contact: Beth Graham Public Relations Manager Phone (210) 207-2638 Fax (210) 207-2603 email: Elizabeth.Graham@sanantonio.gov
News Release	October 1, 2008

What:	The Winds and Words of War: an exhibit of World War I posters and prints
When:	October 2 - October 27, 2008
Where:	Central Library Gallery · 600 Soledad · San Antonio, Texas

Ninety Years Later: The Winds and Words of War
A window on World War I

(SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS) The San Antonio Public Library and the San Antonio Public Library Foundation will commemorate the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day with an exhibit of original World War I posters not seen on public display since 1933.

Bequeathed to the library by eclectic collector Harry Hertzberg, the collection includes forty framed vintage posters designed by leading artists of the day to assist in the war effort. The U.S. Office of Public Information formed a committee chaired by renowned illustrator Charles Dana Gibson to create a line of posters to mobilize the American public on behalf of the war. Members of the committee included Haskill Coffin, Howard Chandler Christy, and the creator of “Uncle Sam Wants You,” James Montgomery Flagg.

These unique lithographs feature famous images of patriotic themes and messages, including several created for international groups interested in supporting the war by cultivating recent immigrants and new American citizens. The words and text used, as well as the powerful imagery, convey the sense of urgency as well as the mass marketing effect of advertising a war for the first time in modern history. These works provide a fascinating window into the era and the beginnings of the American effort in support of the war known variously as the “Great War,” “the war to end all wars,“ and “the war to make the world safe for democracy.”

The exhibit is free and open to the public during regular library operating hours, Monday-Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; and Sunday, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. One hour of free parking is available in the Central Library parking garage with a validated ticket. For more information, the public may call 207-2500 or visit www.mysapl.org.

Following its premiere at the San Antonio Public Library, the exhibit will travel to the Chicago (Illinois) Public Library, the Wichita (Kansas) Public Library, the Kansas City (Missouri) Public Library, the Evansville Vanderburg County (Illinois) Public Library, the Harford County (Maryland) Public Library, the Memphis (Tennessee) Public Library, and Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York.

To request the exhibit, please contact curator Allison Hays Lane, olanagroup@aol.com, or (210) 805-9945.
The Winds and Words of War is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Stumberg Foundation, the Tobin Endowment, the City of San Antonio Veteran’s Affairs Commission, the San Antonio Public Library, and the San Antonio Public Library Foundation.

About the San Antonio Public Library

For more than 100 years, the award-winning San Antonio Public Library has been a vital center for free learning, knowledge, communication, culture and enjoyment for all San Antonians. With a world-class Central Library, branch libraries throughout the city, and outstanding online resources, the San Antonio Public Library is as close as around the corner or the nearest computer.

About the San Antonio Public Library Foundation

The San Antonio Public Library Foundation was created in 1983 to increase the awareness and use of the Library through financial support and programmatic efforts, thereby enhancing the community's appreciation and utilization of the library as a cultural and educational institution.

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