This Porcineograph

I am not sure if this is charming or horrific.

The Forbes Lith. Mfg. Co., Boston - 1876 - Library of Congress

Death to worlds' imperialism

Have I posted this before? Imperialism is one ugly beast, y'all.

USSR - 1919 - Dmitry Moor - Soviet Posters

Lewisite Gas

People are such strange creatures. We create weapons and then we create art to warn of them.

Camp Barkeley, Texas - 1941-1945 - @ National Museum of Health and Medicine

boom

Know what that is? A mountain of confiscated moonshine. Think of all the labor that went into making all that liquor. Think of the dry times without it. But most of all, think of the blaze when they lit it up.

(Actually, check the comments for updated info.) 

1924

from la boite verte

To the glory of Communism

Russian communism may have worked out badly, but you just can't touch their propaganda. This is beautiful. The open hands, throwing rocket victoriously into space. The look on his face, proud but good natured and human. The limitless reaches of space, waiting to be explored. Is it any wonder it's so primarily the Russians keeping the ISS stocked and manned?

USSR

from RussiaTrek

Mount

Someday we'll carve the face of the Moon.

Mt. Rushmore

1935

from Stephen Feeney's flickr

Даёшь ясли!

No one ever looks at, say, a modern car ad and thinks, "Man, I really want to study graphic design."

Russian Poster

1920s

from Duke University

The Feed Themselves

Well that's just damn good advice. I'm sort of amazed sometimes that humans ever populated areas with no fish.

US Food Administration Poster

circa 1917 - 1919

from the US National Archive

Mug

Good draft, bad draft.

Temperance Pamphlet

WW II era

from Jan Tonnesen's flickr stream

invisible PLAGUE GERMS

I can picture someone designing this flier. "What's scary? Bombs. No, that's not enough. INVISIBLE PLAGUE GERMS!" Look, I've been bombed in Tallahassee plenty of times - it's not that bad.

Tallahassee, Florida

1954

from Florida Memory

Space Ring

I don't know quite what's going on here, but it makes me happy to look at it.

Russian Space Magazine for Children

1964

from Joey's Dream Garden's flickr stream

Turned On To Jesus in California

This is not, in fact, a groovy underground rag out of San Francisco. It is, in fact, a pseudogroovy, anti-drug rag done by a preacher in Texas. Be careful, kids: the propaganda pusher can take many forms.

Brian Ruud's "Scenes from the Trip Beyond"

1971

from Feed Your Head

Billy Bounce Saves the King

Wild hair and devil horns: the interplanetary signs of anarchy.

Billy Bounce Comics

1906, illustrator C. W. Kahles

from Barnacles Press

Masked detectives and civilians

That fellow third from the left doesn't seem to quite get the idea.

Sydney, Australia

1933

from The Historic Houses Trust

A Healthy Life With Good Food

Give him some bell bottom trousers, a coat of Navy blue. Let him climb the rigging like his daddy used to do.

1920

from Naval History and Heritage

G I Joe Christmas

That last picture plus this picture pretty much explain an entire generation.

Someone's Gramma's House

1969

from TJL Genes

Be a Public Nuisance

Hippies back then were so much shabbier than hippies today. Also, is she carrying her regular shoes? Poser.

San Francisco, CA

1967, photographer Charles W. Cushman

from The Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection

Triumphal Maximiliano

This is a parade I'd like to attend.

Emperor Maximilian I's 

Triumphal Procession of 1517

1519

from BibliOdyssey

Entertaining the Troops

I thought the marines had height requirements. How short is that kid? Jayne was only 5'8".Okay, so the heels do add. Man, that kid can't believe his luck.

A Marine Private First Class and Jayne Mansfield

Canada

1961

from Vintage Engineer Boots

Beware Bootleg Meat

I knew they issued soldiers cigarettes. I just didn't know that the army issued singing monkeys.

Collier's

1943

from New York Public Library