Back Our Girls Over There: Y.W.C.A. United War Work Campaign
A woman in a dark uniform and headset works a telephone switchboard, with a YWCA triangle on the wall beside her and soldiers in helmets marching in the background. The slogan asks viewers to 'back our girls over there' for the United War Work Campaign. The tell is the transfer of the soldiers' presence and the uniform's authority onto the fundraising appeal for the YWCA's overseas work.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1918
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), United War Work Campaign
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- NGO
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Fundraise
- Themes
- War and the military, Gender and suffrage, Home front
- Event
- World War I
- Regime
- Wilson administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 4 (U.S. Food Administration), World War I Posters (NAID 512439), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- NARA Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), United War Work Campaign. National Archives and Records Administration, 4-P-173.
Text on the object
Y.W.C.A. Back our girls over there United War Work Campaign Y.W.C.A. [artist's signature, lower left of picture: Clarence F. Underwood]
The YWCA triangle also appears on the wall within the picture. The signature at lower left of the picture reads Clarence F. Underwood (script lettering, partly worn).
