"Hold Up Your End!" WWI Red Cross Home Front Poster by W.B. King (1917)

The American Red Cross commissioned many posters during World War I in national fundraising campaigns to encourage the American people to donate money and support. The poster asked donors to give money to help reach the campaign War Fund Week’s goal of $100,000,000. Before the war, the Red Cross was a small and insignificant organization based in the U.S.. During the war, the organization saved money and provided help to the warring nations in Europe. Once the U.S. entered the war, the Red Cross was inundated with volunteers and funding from the government. WWI made the Red Cross into a global organization that was capable of helping people around the world. This poster was created and reproduced as a lithograph at the time of its distribution.

During World War I, many women risked their lives to care for troops and took on active roles, as depicted in this poster seeking contributions for war relief efforts. Although women were still denied the right to vote, the government allowed them to serve in limited roles, ranging from dietitian to telephone operator. But the majority of women service members—more than 23,000 over the course of the war—were nurses. The government refused to grant American military nurses permanent commissioned rank and its accompanying benefits until after World War II.