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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 · Before the Great War
Columbia Calls: Enlist Now for U.S. Army
Vincent Aderente (c. 1880-1941) · U.S. War Department, from the poem and design of Frances Adams Halsted, 1916
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 colour lithograph Vincent Aderente painted from a design by Frances Adams Halsted, copyright 1916, 102.3 by 75.4 cm on the sheet, with Halsted's poem in the lower right corner.
Why it matters
Halsted wrote Columbia Calls in 1916, sure that war with Germany was coming, and gave the poem and its design to the War Department after America entered the war; three months later the New York Times announced plans to print 500,000 copies, the proceeds to found a home for orphaned children of American soldiers and sailors. Aderente had emigrated from Italy at six and worked as an assistant to Edwin Howland Blashfield.
What to notice
Columbia holds a flag and a sword, standing on North America at the top of a globe, with Halsted's verse in the corner and a line for the nearest recruiting station.
A continent for a pedestal.
Provenance
- School
- The Patriotic Print before 1917 (United States and the world)
- Designer
- Vincent Aderente (c. 1880-1941)
- Campaign
- Enlist · Uncle Sam and Columbia
- Service
- Army
- Format
- Political poster
- Poster published
- U.S. War Department, from the poem and design of Frances Adams Halsted, 1916
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division · LCCN 95506508 · POS - US .H348, no. 1 (C size) [P&P]
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. 95-year rule (published 1930 or earlier). Gated by the poster’s own publication year. Cleared by registry on 2026-11-02. Commons licence re-read 2026-11-02 on the Commons mirror of the same LoC scan: Public domain (PD-Layout, PD-US-expired-text, PD-old-70-1923).
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