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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
On the Same Team: Enlist in the WAVES
John Philip Falter (1910-1982) · 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 John Philip Falter made for the WAVES, dated between 1942 and 1945, held by the National Archives as 44-PA-1452 in its World War II Posters series.
Why it matters
Congress created the WAVES in July 1942 to fill the Navy's shore posts with women and free men for sea duty. Falter, best known for his many covers for The Saturday Evening Post, drew several of the reserve's posters.
What to notice
The headline counts the shore post and the ship as one side, the women of the reserve and the men afloat on a single roster.
Two uniforms, one roster.
Provenance
- School
- The Second World War Poster (United States and the world)
- Designer
- John Philip Falter (1910-1982)
- 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 515115, local id 44-PA-1452), NARA scan via DPLA and Wikimedia Commons · NARA NAID 515115 · 44-PA-1452
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 515115, 44-PA-1452): use restriction Unrestricted, access Unrestricted.
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