Question regarding authenticity of US Cadet Nurse Corps poster, ~1943

[cough cough harrumph]

Hello all,

I was recently looking at a potential WW2 poster recruiting for the US Cadet Nurse Corps (pictures are below), and was hoping one of y'all might be able to offer your opinion on its authenticity.




Specifically, after looking over the piece and trying to compare it to one I know is original (pulled from the Northwestern University archive site; see below), I noticed that it looked to have some separation between the blue box advertising free education and the edge of the poster (circled in red above). This separation is not present on the Northwestern University piece. Am I correct in assuming that is an immediate red flag, or were "overlapping" boxes like these applied in a secondary step which could result in inconsistencies in it being flush with the edge?



Greatly appreciate the help!

[reneblacky]

I can't really help, but I do have a lot of print media WW2, for me this stuff needs to be in hand and a sniff test is a must!

[cough cough harrumph]

Just out of curiosity, René, what do you find is the typical feel for paper posters from this time period? And is there a characteristic of the ink (i.e. is it more raised due to the screen printing process, etc.)? I would assume an almost "cheaper" feel given they were mass produced and all that, but wanted to get your opinion. Thanks!

[Rakkasan187]

I don't see any obvious issues with the poster.... The GPO (Government Printing Office) usually has a date/time stamp when they were printed at the bottom of the poster.. It may be in smaller print in order to not bring attention to it but to the primary focus of the poster itself.

The creases/fold seem to match the original that you pictured as well.. These were all machine folded using a multifold conveyer folder.. (I used to work at a printing company) so folding products, cutting products, using a light table and opaquing table for blueprints and diagrams were some of my duties)

The printing process with multiple colors could be the reason this was off. On the right side of the blue education advertisement it looks like there is a small black tic mark at the bottom right, which could be the alignment mark when running test sheets for an additional color.. Sometimes these made it through the inspection process if it wasn't too obvious and the print was still legible..

I used to work in a printing company and I would see this many times when printing multiple colored products such as maps and Christmas cards and other products that had multiple colors. Now we did have the capability of printing multiple colors at one time ( If I recall we had 5 or 6 color presses) and I was an apprentice on the printing floor so part of my duties was prepping the printed products for a second run through the printers when text or more colors were added... After we would put a test run of about 100 sheets through, the foreman would inspect the alignment marks to make sure everything lined up.. It usually took a few hundred sheets and then periodically we would pull sheets during the print run to check if alignment was still accurate..

I have several WW2 posters and will echo what Rene said about the "feel".. You just have to handle a lot of paper products to feel the paper so to speak.. I am now a museum curator so I do this type of work daily and after a while you can tell the cotton fiber from other paper fibers...

Hope this helps..


Smitty

[cough cough harrumph]

Thanks you for the information and details on the typical printing process these might go through, Smitty.

[RH1941]

Can't help with the poster but I do have this