Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
In the Biggest of all Wars The Smallest Things Matter - Let's Not Waste Them, 1939 UK poster: A dark photograph shows screws

In the Biggest of all Wars The Smallest Things Matter - Let's Not Waste Them

A dark photograph shows screws, washers, wire and scraps spilled across a workshop floor under the words 'In the biggest of all wars the smallest things matter'. The tell for transfer is the pairing of the scale of the war with floor sweepings, so the weight of the war is attached to the small act of not wasting.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Transfer
Date
1939
Period
Second World War
Made by
Ministry of Supply (poster no. 110); printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Hubners Ltd.
Region
Western and Central Europe
Country
United Kingdom
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
State
Regime
Churchill Government
Leader
Winston Churchill
Audience
Domestic public
Purpose
Mobilize or secure compliance
Themes
Home front, Economy and finance
Event
World War II
Regime
Churchill wartime government
Leader
Winston Churchill
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 Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
Rights
Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
Ministry of Supply, printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Hubners Ltd, c. 1939-1945. U.S. National Archives, NAID 44266676, local identifier 44-PF-237.

Text on the object

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

IN THE BIGGEST OF ALL WARS

THE SMALLEST THINGS MATTER

LET'S NOT WASTE THEM

MINISTRY OF SUPPLY - 110
Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Hubners Ltd. 51- 4248

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