Music inspires in the service, industry, home, school
A colour poster in red, white and blue: a woman's profile with a laurel wreath and a ribbon of musical staff, above a band of marching musicians, under a headline whose letters 'US' are drawn as a star-and-stripes flag. The abstract virtue 'inspires' (glittering generalities) is joined to flag colours and service imagery (transfer).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Music Industries War Council, Chicago (artist James Axelrod)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Reassure
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- 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)
Music Industries War Council, Chicago (artist James Axelrod). National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1377 (NAID 515036).
Text on the object
mUSic INSPIRES in the SERVICE * INDUSTRY * HOME * SCHOOL [signature:] JAMES AXELROD [imprint:] COPYRIGHTED 1942 BY MUSIC INDUSTRIES WAR COUNCIL, CHICAGO [imprint:] LITHO IN U. S. A.
