Sources of Inquiry

Case 16: Posters and Flyers

Posters and flyers are two-dimensional objects that convey information through text and graphics. A poster is usually designed to be displayed in a communal area, and is large enough to be seen and read from a distance. A flyer, sometimes called a handbill or leaflet, is commonly posted or distributed in a public place, handed out to individuals, or sent through the mail. Both are generally intended to inform, advertise, or argue a particular perspective, and can carry many different kinds of information.

The posters and flyers on display address issues like racial discrimination, fair wages, women's reproductive rights, and police violence. Some contain seemingly innocuous content that exposes a more complex history. For example, one poster features Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton, who won a gold, two silver, and two bronze medals amid a controversial Soviet boycott of the Games in 1984. Another advertises the Reno Gay Rodeo in 1983, which was publicly protested by the Independent American Party, the anti-gay Pro-Family Christian Coalition, and other anti-gay groups who attempted to stop the event by claiming it would result in a surge of AIDS infections.

The "Americanism Never Was a Question of Race or Ancestry" poster quotes President Franklin D. Roosevelt as it attempts to combat a virulent anti-Japanese racist backlash that occurred across the US when interned Nisei were permitted to volunteer for military service in Europe during World War II. The "Dump Dick Dance" poster advertises a benefit dance for a campaign opposing the 1972 reelection of Richard Nixon.

Case 17, Creative Works, is located to the right.

• 1

  Los Angeles Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) poster advertising the "How to Fight Discrimination on the Job and in the Community" course at CIO Leadership School, February 29, 1948Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Collection

• 2

  National Organization for Women flyer advertising the "March for Women's Equality, Women's Lives" in response to a pending Supreme Court decision that threatened Roe v. Wade, April 9, 1989Zero Population Growth of Los Angeles, Inc. Collection

• 3

  "Free the LA 18" flyer announcing a rally in support of Los Angeles Black Panther Party members jailed after a police raid, January 6, 1970Campus Unrest and Related Campus Activities Collection

• 4

  Souvenir poster featuring Mary Lou Retton, 1984Ann Stutts Olympic Games Collection

• 5

  "Mr. and Mrs. Consumer and Members of AFL-CIO" flyer, AFL-CIO Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, 1963Joseph G. Brosmer Collection

• 6

  Reno Gay Rodeo poster, August 4-7, 1983Homosexual Information Center Subject Files Collection

• 7

  "Americanism Never Was a Question of Race or Ancestry" poster, United States Office of War Information, 1943 Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, Community Relations Committee Collection, Part 2

• 8

  "Dump Dick Dance" poster, Cal Poly Pomona Student Chapter, California Young Democrats, 1972California Young Democrats Collection