A large and visually striking original American World War One poster, issued in 1918 for the United War Work Campaign and featuring the iconic Salvation Army “lassie” serving doughnuts to U.S. troops.
Bibliographic Details
Author / artist: Richards, George M. (American painter and illustrator, 1880–1958)
Title: Oh, Boy! That’s the Girl! The Salvation Army Lassie. Keep Her on the Job. Nov. 11th–18th 1918. United War Work Campaign
Place of Publication: New York
Publisher: Sackett & Wilhelms Corp.
Date: 1918
Format: Single-sheet poster
Illustrations: Original colour lithographic poster, signed and dated in the plate “G. M. Richards”
Presentation: Unframed; will be sent carefully rolled in a thick mailing tube
Size: Approx. 40 x 30 inches (including thin pale margins)
Provenance: Private collection
Condition
Good to Fair only condition. Despite the flaws noted below, the face of the poster remains highly presentable and it will display very well once framed. Light age-toning to reverse. Chip to one blank corner with minor loss of paper, but image area unaffected. Numerous small marginal tears around the edges, several with archival tape repairs. A few small nicks and minor losses to blank margins. Small indent tear within the image area with repair. One cruder repair to the reverse, the rest generally of a presentable nature. Some creasing to edges and corners, with minor overall creasing. Please consult gallery images closely, including the reverse where shown, and ask if you require a fuller condition report.
Description
A superb and highly memorable American First World War poster, designed to promote support for the Salvation Army during the closing days of the conflict. George M. Richards’ composition is both instantly legible and unusually charismatic, combining patriotic service, emotional appeal, and commercial poster brilliance in a single bold image.
The design centres on two figures: in the foreground, a grinning American soldier bites into a doughnut with open delight, while behind him a smiling Salvation Army “lassie” in uniform presents a tray of fresh doughnuts against a stylised war-torn landscape. The visual message is wonderfully direct—comfort, morale, gratitude, and home-front support distilled into one of the most appealing service images of the war.
The poster is particularly effective in its use of colour and composition. Richards sets the figures against a dramatic, almost theatrical blue and white background, allowing the red lettering of “The Salvation Army Lassie” and the warm flesh tones of the figures to stand out with great force. The oversized soldier’s face, rendered with a near-cinematic immediacy, gives the design much of its enduring power and charm.
The slogan “Oh, Boy! That’s the Girl!” has exactly the kind of colloquial, emotionally immediate language that made American wartime posters so effective. It transforms the image from simple fundraising ephemera into a vivid piece of popular culture—part propaganda, part advertising, part idealised wartime Americana.
Issued for the campaign week of 11–18 November 1918—the very week of the Armistice—the poster belongs to a particularly poignant moment in wartime visual history. It represents not just military support, but the final emotional push of a nation mobilised for war and relief work at the moment of victory.
Large original posters of this type were inherently ephemeral and were intended for temporary public display. Survivals are therefore increasingly uncommon, particularly examples that still retain such strong colour, strong central image appeal, and real decorative presence.
Notes
The United War Work Campaign united several welfare and support organisations serving American troops, including the Salvation Army, YMCA, YWCA, Knights of Columbus, Jewish Welfare Board, and others. Posters produced for the campaign rank among the most iconic examples of American WWI graphic design.
This particular design is especially desirable for its subject matter. Salvation Army doughnut imagery has become one of the most recognisable and beloved motifs of the American war effort, and posters featuring the “lassies” are now widely collected across militaria, social history, women’s history, and poster art.
A large, colourful, and unmistakably charismatic 1918 American war poster, with excellent decorative impact and strong collector appeal.