American poster artist Lester Beall was hired to design posters to garner support for the work of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in the 1930s. The REA was launched by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order in May 1935, and then supported by Congress’ passage of the Rural Electrification Act in May 1936. At the time, nearly 90% of farms lacked electricity. By 1950, that number dropped to about 20%, dramatically changing the lives of millions of Americans.
Beall’s eye-catching graphics in the first series of posters he created were intended to convey a simple message about the benefits of electricity coming to rural America: lights, communication (radio), powered tools and farm implements, running water, and more.
Asked to make another series of posters, Beall focused on the results of the work and emphasized the positive progress. He used photomontage to put real people into the story. In the poster below, an older woman enjoys the benefits of electric light as she works on her sewing, and, in the second poster, a smiling worker promises the arrival of electricity with the simple statement: “Here it comes.”
Beall’s third series showed the electricity in action, as it improved the well-being of rural Americans, and helped farms grow and succeed. The man featured in the first poster below is using “Power on the farm” as he sharpens a blade. In the second poster, water now comes with just “A turn of the hand,” easing the labor of working a farm.
Learn More:
- See all of the currently digitized posters by Lester Beall for the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog.
- See digitized posters Lester Beall created for the Office of Emergency Management and the United States Housing Authority.
- The work of the REA was also documented in photographs within the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection.