The WPA & the Golden Age · See America / The Parks
Discover Puerto Rico U.S.A.
Frank S. Nicholson · Work Projects Administration, 1940
What it is
A Work Projects Administration travel poster designed by Frank S. Nicholson, silkscreened in color on board around 1940.
Why it matters
Made under the New Deal's federal arts program, it pitches Puerto Rico as an American destination that needs no passport - the 'U.S.A.' stamped right into the title. The argument is geographic and political at once: a Caribbean island framed for the mainland tourist as domestic ground. The Library of Congress dates it to 1936-1940, with a verso stamp of July 18, 1940.
What to notice
Look at the flat, unbroken fields of color laid down one screen at a time - the silkscreen tell that gives WPA posters their poster-flat punch.
A border drawn not on a map but in a slogan.
Provenance
- School
- WPA — Federal Art Project (United States)
- Designer
- Frank S. Nicholson
- Format
- Travel poster
- Poster published
- Work Projects Administration, 1940
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division · LCCN98518608 (digital ID cph.3f05643)
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. government program work (WPA Federal Art Project), any year. Gated by the poster’s own publication year. Cleared by registry on 2026-07-18.
Format
The full-resolution, color-managed file — restored honestly, yours to print and keep.
Sized to protect print quality — this scan supports sizes up to 18x24" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
