Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
Big Things From Little Ideas Grow, 1941 US poster: Poster with a large portrait photograph of Thomas Alva Edison under

Big Things From Little Ideas Grow

Poster with a large portrait photograph of Thomas Alva Edison under the headline 'Big things from little ideas grow', with 'SPEED VICTORY / Let's have your ideas' in a grey band below. Transfer: Edison's prestige as an inventor is attached to the request for workers' suggestions. Glittering-generalities: 'Speed Victory'.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

TransferGlittering generalities
Date
1941
Period
Second World War
Made by
War Production Board, War Production Drive Headquarters
Region
North America
Country
United States
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
State
Regime
Roosevelt Administration
Leader
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Audience
Domestic public
Purpose
Mobilize or secure compliance
Themes
Home front, Labor
Event
World War II
Regime
Roosevelt administration
Leader
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Source
Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
Rights
Public domain (U.S. government work)
War Production Board, War Production Drive Headquarters. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-488 (NAID 513969).

Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

BIG THINGS FROM LITTLE IDEAS GROW
THOMAS ALVA EDISON
America's greatest inventor
worked small ideas
into big ones
SPEED VICTORY
Let's have your ideas
[imprint: WAR PRODUCTION BOARD / War Production Drive Headquarters / WASHINGTON D. C. A-20]
[imprint: U.S. Government Printing Office, [illegible]]

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