George Withers Papers, 1943/1946

Access and use

Location of collection:
Old Dominion University
3023 Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library
Old Dominion University
4427 Hampton Blvd
Norfolk, VA 23529
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Jessica Ritchie
Phone: (757) 683-4483
Fax: (757) 683-5954
Restrictions:

Open to researchers without restrictions.

Terms of access:

Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from Special Collections and University Archives, and the holder of the copyright, if not Old Dominion University Libraries.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Box [insert number], Folder [insert number and title], George Withers Papers, Specials Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 1, Illustrations From Military Publications, Letters, Army Personnel Appointment Notice, 1943 June 30-1946 January 29, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: A Letter Across the Atlantic, 1944 August 30, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: GI's Letter Home, 1944 September 3, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: Chantier Interdit au Public, (Public Not Allowed) France, 1944, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: World War II, England, Scotland, and France, 1944-1945, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: Liberated Paris in the Summer of 1945, 1945, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: GIs and Friends, Parisian Nightclub, Summer, 1945, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: Parisian Watercolor Studies, Summer, 1945, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: VE DAY, 1945 May 8, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: International Red Cross, Paris, GI's Drinking Coffee, Summer, 1945, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Summary

Extent:
1.20 Linear Feet and 1 oversized box boxes
Creator:
Withers, George (1911-1959)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Box [insert number], Folder [insert number and title], George Withers Papers, Specials Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 1, Illustrations From Military Publications, Letters, Army Personnel Appointment Notice, 1943 June 30-1946 January 29, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: A Letter Across the Atlantic, 1944 August 30, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: GI's Letter Home, 1944 September 3, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: Chantier Interdit au Public, (Public Not Allowed) France, 1944, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: World War II, England, Scotland, and France, 1944-1945, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: Liberated Paris in the Summer of 1945, 1945, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: GIs and Friends, Parisian Nightclub, Summer, 1945, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: Parisian Watercolor Studies, Summer, 1945, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: VE DAY, 1945 May 8, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Poster: International Red Cross, Paris, GI's Drinking Coffee, Summer, 1945, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains artwork by George Withers primarily related to World War II. It includes posters, copies of illustrations for military publications, letters, and an Army personnel appointment notice. An illustration of the battle on Guadalcanal for "Army Talks" magazine is included, along with an illustration from Combat Orientation. Letters of thanks from General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lucius Clay as well as an article about an exhibit of Withers' work at the Walt Whitman Birthplace Museum on Long Island are enclosed.

Biographical / historical:

George Withers was an artist who was born in Wichita, Kansas on December 20, 1911. He was educated K-12 in Kansas City, Missouri and attended Kansas University where he graduated with a B.A. in Art. Withers attended the Art Students League in New York on an art scholarship and studied under the great anatomist George Bridgeman. His commercial career began in Philadelphia working with the advertising agency, N.W. Ayer &Company. He moved on to the work with several agencies in New York – McCann-Erickson, Young and Rubicam, Rahl & Co., Sutton and O'Brien. Withers illustrated stories for many artists including J.D. Salinger in The Saturday Evening Post, Robert Ruark in Colliers Magazine, and many others in Redbook Magazine, Field and Stream, Bluebook, Good Housekeeping, the New York Herald Tribune, Holiday Magazine, and Look. He did work for commercial and government accounts such as Arrow Shirts, Birdseye, Presto cake mix, Kolynos, Swan Soap, Smith Corona, Chase & Sanborn, Campbell's Soups, Calverts, Bakers Chocolate, Ny Bell, Conoco, Citgo, Ford Motor Company, Schenleys, Hartford Insurance Company, US War Bonds, FTD Florists, Syracuse China, Pan Am, Weber and Heilbroner, and the War Advertising Council. As a war artist he served in the United Kingdom and at European Theater of Operations in Paris under General Eisenhower. George Withers died in 1959.

Note written by Special Collections Staff

Acquisition information:

Brian Withers

Gift. Accession #A2013-07

Processing information:

The finding aid was created by Anna Wagner in 2012.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard