What can war posters tell us about our nation’s attempts to modify food consumption habits?

When Beans Were Bullets is an online exhibit of posters from World War I & II organized at the National Agricultural Library (NAL). The exhibit examines the evolution of poster styles, propaganda messages and advertising history from the two time periods.

Viewers will recognize familiar wartime messages about food conservation, rationing, and home canning. But today’s audience will be surprised by government messaging during World War I encouraging home front populations to eat locally, healthfully, and conscientiously in order to put the nation’s interest first and contribute to distant war efforts.

The exhibit also retraces the advent of modern consumer culture, including the far-reaching influence of both the Advertising Council of World War II and the dawn of the advertising industry in the 1920s and ’30s.

Combining the eye of a graphic designer with the research skills of a historian, curator Cory Bernat highlights the dramatic differences in style and content that emerged between the two wars.  She displayed copies of over seventy posters on fence panels instead of in frames to highlight their mass-produced quality in the physical exhibit. She uncovered the posters over the last two years within NAL’s Special Collections, where the originals are still held.

A ready reference for researchers and educators,  Cory Bernat researched and created When Beans Were Bullets, and the exhibit was situated at the USDA South building in Washington, DC.

Visit the expanded, online version of the physical exhibit which serves as a display of the posters that were displayed during the Fall of  2010. Cory Bernat researched and created When Beans Were Bullets in collaboration with the National Agricultural Library. Bernat is a designer, curator and public historian living in Washington, DC.

The National Agriculture Library provides an opportunity to purchase these and many other posters from the Library's Special Collections.  There are three convenient ways to order these products.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these products funds the conservation treatment of Special Collections materials. To view items from Special Collections that have been identified for conservation treatment, visit this web page.

For information about ordering Custom Reproductions, please click here.

Credits for Posters Pictured:
The Seeds of Victory Insure the Fruits of Peace, Maginel Wright Enright, artist; National War Garden Commission, Washington, DC.  1919

The Farm Woman's Dream; University of Missouri, College of Agriculture. 1920

More Articles

• Against All Odds, Rita Levi-Montalcini’s Story: “No food, no husband, and no regrets”
• Kings, Queens, and Courtiers: Royalty on Paper
• CultureWatch Books: The Hemlock Cup and Train Dreams
• Argo, the Movie and Wired Magazine: How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans From Tehran By Joshuah Bearman
• Transfigured by the Magic of Light and Shade: Impressionism and Fashion
• The Endeavour Day: FDR's Evolving Approach to Fiscal Policy in Times of Crisis
• Colors of the Universe: Chinese Hardstone Carvings
• Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Part 1
• The Horse: From Arabia to Royal Ascot
• The Century of the Child: Contributions of women as architects, designers, teachers, critics, and social activists