From collection Kosti Ruohomaa Collection
1944 Poster by Ragan Encouraging Women to Take Jobs 2
A poster of a lithograph by Leslie Ragan encourages women to take jobs, depicting a World War II railroad worker oiling an engine.
Leslie Darrell Ragan (1897-1972) was an artist known for gleaming Art Deco paintings of trains. He served in World War I, and married Mildred Enes in Manhattan in 1929. He started working on a poster campaign for New York Central in 1925. He also created a poster for the Office Of War Information.
Kosti Ruohomaa documented some of the many posters and banners informing and encouraging people to come together to do things that would help the collective effort while the United States was fighting in World War II. Some of the signs give information about supply fluctuations and ration stamps, others illustrate a labor shortage, while a few businesses seem to be using the war to get people to buy their products. Most of the posters, signs, and displays showed the commitment of businesses, families, and workers to do their part to help their country. Six images were published in the September 25, 1944 issue of LIFE Magazine on pages 96-97, 100, and 104-105.
