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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
Enlist in the WAVES: Release a Man to Fight at Sea
Unknown (the NARA record names no artist) · U.S. Navy, Women's Reserve (WAVES), 1942–1945
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 Navy recruiting poster for the WAVES, dated between 1942 and 1945, held by the National Archives as 44-PA-208 in its World War II Posters series.
Why it matters
Congress established the WAVES, the Navy's women's reserve, on 21 July 1942, and Roosevelt signed the law on 30 July, to free men for sea duty by filling shore posts with women. The second line of the sheet states that purpose in the reserve's own words.
What to notice
The second line carries the whole argument of the reserve: one shore post filled, one man released to the fleet.
A desk ashore, traded for a berth at sea.
Provenance
- School
- The Second World War Poster (United States and the world)
- Designer
- Unknown (the NARA record names no artist)
- Campaign
- Enlist · Women at War
- Service
- Women’s services
- Format
- Political poster
- Poster published
- U.S. Navy, Women's Reserve (WAVES), 1942–1945
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, World War II Posters series (NAID 513651, local id 44-PA-208), NARA scan via DPLA and Wikimedia Commons · NARA NAID 513651 · 44-PA-208
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 513651, 44-PA-208): use restriction Unrestricted, access Unrestricted.
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