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Prepared from the source scan: surroundings removed and the sheet levelled where required. The source record remains available below.
The Posters That Went to War · The Home Front
A Careless Word, Another Cross
John Carlton Atherton · Office of War Information, 1941–1945
Format
Archival pigment giclée on museum-grade matte art paper, color-managed to the source scan — the flat inks and stone grain intact. The 40×60 is the room-changer.
Size
$39.00
What it is
A careless-talk poster by John Carlton Atherton, dated between 1941 and 1945, held by the National Archives as 44-PA-271 in its World War II Posters series.
Why it matters
The careless-talk campaign, whose best-known line was loose lips might sink ships, ran on Office of War Information posters; the War Advertising Council wrote that line, and sheets like this one carried its logic to the graveside.
What to notice
The headline splits into cause and effect, a careless word and then another cross, with nothing between them but an ellipsis.
One word, and one more grave.
Provenance
- School
- The Second World War Poster (United States and the world)
- Designer
- John Carlton Atherton
- Campaign
- Careless Talk
- Format
- Political poster
- Poster published
- Office of War Information, 1941–1945
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, World War II Posters series (NAID 513720, local id 44-PA-271), NARA scan via DPLA and Wikimedia Commons · NARA NAID 513720 · 44-PA-271
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. government work (the WPA Federal Art Project, the wartime agencies), any year. Gated by the poster’s own publication year. Cleared by registry on 2026-11-02. National Archives catalogue re-read 2026-11-02 (NAID 513720, 44-PA-271): use restriction Unrestricted, access Unrestricted. Title corrected: the record reads A careless work; the sheet reads A careless word.
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