What to Do (rag bag salvage)
A stylised woman in a blue blouse and black skirt holds a rag bag and a scrap of cloth beside a three-step list: put bits and pieces in a rag bag, keep them dry, keep them separate from other salvage. The tell is the ordinary housewife as the model citizen; the poster gives instructions and makes no argument.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- H.M. Stationery Office (government issue); printed by Lowe & Brydone Printers Ltd., London N.W.10
- 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
- Theme
- Home front
- Event
- World War II
- 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)
H.M. Stationery Office, 1939-1945. U.S. National Archives (NAID 44267389).
Text on the object
What to do — PUT YOUR BITS AND PIECES IN A RAG BAG KEEP THEM DRY KEEP THEM SEPARATE FROM OTHER SALVAGE PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY LOWE & BRYDONE PRINTERS LTD., LONDON, N.W.10. 51-2488
