The Greatest Mother in the World: Red Cross Christmas Roll Call
A monumental, veiled Red Cross nurse sits enthroned and cradles a small wounded soldier on a stretcher across her lap, beside a large red cross, under the words 'The Greatest Mother in the World.' The tell of transfer is the composition: it borrows the Pieta, Mary holding the dead Christ, so the reverence owed to that image flows to a membership drive.
- Date
- 1918
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- American Red Cross; Alonzo Earl Foringer (artist)
- 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, Health, Home front
- Event
- World War I
- Techniques
- Transfer
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, retrieved September 27, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain in the U.S. (published before 1931)
Foringer, A. E. (Alonzo Earl), 1878-1948, artist. 1918. Library of Congress, LC-USZC4-10241.
Text on the object
Red Cross Christmas Roll Call Dec. 16-23rd The GREATEST MOTHER in the World
A Kodak colour-reference strip and frame markings from the photographic transparency appear along the borders of the image; these are archival calibration marks, not part of the poster, and are not transcribed.
