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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
Less Dangerous Than Careless Talk
Albert Dorne (1904-1965) · 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 Albert Dorne, dated between 1941 and 1945, held by the National Archives as 44-PA-103 in its World War II Posters series.
Why it matters
The careless-talk campaign's best-known line, loose lips might sink ships, was created by the War Advertising Council and used on posters by the Office of War Information. Dorne co-founded the correspondence schools for artists and the illustrators' Code of Ethics and Fair Practices.
What to notice
The headline is a comparison with its first term left to the picture, so whatever the sheet shows is ranked beneath a few loose words.
The worst danger, ranked as a few words.
Provenance
- School
- The Second World War Poster (United States and the world)
- Designer
- Albert Dorne (1904-1965)
- 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 513556, local id 44-PA-103), NARA scan via DPLA and Wikimedia Commons · NARA NAID 513556 · 44-PA-103
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 513556, 44-PA-103): use restriction Unrestricted, access Unrestricted.
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