The House Manager (Issued by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Board of Food Administration)
A pen drawing shows a woman in a sash lettered 'House Manager' carrying a basket of food and raising a fist, striding in step ahead of a column of rifle-bearing soldiers. The sheet's only words are the issuing state board's imprint. The tell is transfer: the soldiers' march is lent to the housekeeper's role, so household food management reads as a form of military service.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1917
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Board of Food Administration (Boston)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, War and the military
- 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
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Board of Food Administration (Boston). National Archives and Records Administration, 4-P-101.
Text on the object
HOUSE MANAGER [sash] COPYRIGHT LIFE PUBLISHING CO.—Reprinted from "LIFE" September 13, 1917 Issued by The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Food Administration State House Boston : : Mass.
The copyright line is very small. The artist's signature at lower right of the picture is script and not reliably legible. A small state seal sits beneath the imprint.
