Cultures & Communities

Cleveland Many Peoples One Language Poster

Furniture, cooking wares, clothing, works of art, and many other kinds of artifacts are part of what knit people into communities and cultures. The Museum’s collections feature artifacts from European Americans, Latinos, Arab Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, African Americans, Gypsies, Jews, and Christians, both Catholics and Protestants. The objects range from ceramic face jugs made by enslaved African Americans in South Carolina to graduation robes and wedding gowns. The holdings also include artifacts associated with education, such as teaching equipment, textbooks, and two complete schoolrooms. Uniforms, insignia, and other objects represent a wide variety of civic and voluntary organizations, including youth and fraternal groups, scouting, police forces, and firefighters.

Resource Type: Posters

War Stamp and Bond Drive Poster

The Rohwer High School National Honor Society created these posters to advertise a war stamp and bond drive they were hosting.
Description
The Rohwer High School National Honor Society created these posters to advertise a war stamp and bond drive they were hosting. Although these people were being imprisoned by the government, they still held events to support the war effort and promote their patriotism.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
1986.3144.36
nonaccession number
1986.3144
catalog number
1986.3144.36

Poster, Cleveland: Many Peoples One Language

Waves of non–English–speaking European immigrants flooded the cities of industrial America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Local governments and civic groups sought to encourage immigrants to learn to speak, read, and write English.
Description
Waves of non–English–speaking European immigrants flooded the cities of industrial America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Local governments and civic groups sought to encourage immigrants to learn to speak, read, and write English. This 1917 poster from the Americanization Committee of the Cleveland Board of Education was posted in schools in an attempt to reach immigrant parents through their children.
An appeal to attend free evening English classes appears on this poster in six languages : Italian, Hungarian, Slovenian, Polish, Yiddish, and English. Cleveland's factories, steel mills, port facilities, and assembly plants teemed with the new working–class arrivals from central and eastern Europe. On the eve of the American entry into World War I, nationalistic passions were rising and new immigrants were especially encouraged to "become American" by learning English and preparing for American citizenship.
The 29" x 43" poster is a J. H. Donahey publication printed by the Artcraft Company of Cleveland, Ohio.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1917
referenced
Cleveland Board of Education
graphic artist
Artcraft Company
maker
Donahey, James Harrison
ID Number
1986.0799.01
accession number
1986.0799
catalog number
1986.0799.01

Poster, "Lets Relocate to Illinois

This poster, made by Yoshio Makamura, was a school project in camp. "The second semester each student decided on the town in which he wished to resettle, and we set up a community survey of this locality and state.
Description
This poster, made by Yoshio Makamura, was a school project in camp. "The second semester each student decided on the town in which he wished to resettle, and we set up a community survey of this locality and state. Using a Russell Sage publication, "Your Community" by Joanna Colcord, they sent for materials (writing model letters), did primary and secondary research, and wrote a term paper in college manuscript form summing up their results. At a recent reunion, there was amusement as alumni recounted that they had arrived at their chose resettlement destinations knowing more than the natives."-Eleanor Gerard Sekerak, a Teacher at Topaz
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1943-1945
maker
Nakamura, Yoshio
ID Number
1986.3144.39
catalog number
1986.3144.39
nonaccession number
1986.3144

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