Handle with Care
Hotel-conservation poster: a fist grips a bedsheet that is tearing, marked 'RIP', against red and white stripes, under the headline 'Handle with Care'. A banner reads 'Conserve and you serve Uncle Sam' above a list of hotel economies. The technique is faint: the stripes and 'Uncle Sam' tie housekeeping thrift to national service (transfer).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- American Hotel Association
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Corporation
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Economy and finance
- 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)
American Hotel Association. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-928 (NAID 514434).
Text on the object
HANDLE WITH CARE RIP [imprint: AHA AMERICAN HOTEL ASSOCIATION seal] CONSERVE and you SERVE UNCLE SAM Save soap. Handle linens carefully. Don't waste stationery, etc. Don't knock cleaning equipment against walls or furniture. Don't waste water. Turn lights off. Turn mattresses frequently. Take care of brooms and brushes. Take good care of your uniform.
