Index of American Design Posters

The Index of American Design was a US government program that began in 1935 and continued until 1942. As part of the Federal Art Project, it commissioned 400 artists to make 18,257 detailed colored images of American decorative arts and crafts (including folk art), dating from the early colonial period.

The resulting images were preserved and are now archived in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Many of them are in public domain, and, in some cases, the names of the artists who made them are known.

The twenty-eight posters in this series were designed in 2022-2023 by Roy R. Behrens, UNI Professor Emeritus and Distinguished Scholar. His intention was to celebrate the efforts of the original American craftspeople, the artists who made the interpretive images, and government sponsorship of the Index of American Design. Many more of the original images, as well as more information, can be found online at the National Gallery of Art.

This collection is a subset of the larger Behrens Poster Archive.

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Index of American Design [poster 01, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a beige colored top hat with blue and red line designs on a white background. Text in black and gray letters

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. Father he larfed out like any thing; I thought he would never stop-and sister Sall got right up and walked out of the room, as mad as a hatter.-Thomas Chandler Haliburton. The Clockmaker.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Gilbert Sackerman of a hat-shaped bandbox created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 02, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a standing baseball player wearing a cap. Text in black, gray, and white letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. Take me out to the ball game, Take me out wth the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don't care if I never get back.-Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Mina Lowry of a baseball player figurine created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 03, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a brown head and shoulders of a man. Text in black, gray, and yellow letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country...The turkey is a much more respectable bird.-Benjamin Franklin.

Description: A poster based on a painting by unknown artist of a wood bust of Benjamin Franklin created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 04, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a brown rocking horse head adjacent to a circle outlined in black. Text in black and gray letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. [He, Don Quixote, called his horse] Rozinante, a name [that was], in his opinion, lofty, sonorous, and full of meaning, importing that, he had been only a rozin, a drudge-horse, before his present condition, and that now he was before all the rozins in the world.-Miguel de Cervantes.

Description: A poster based on a painting by John Davis of a wooden rocking horse created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 05, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a profile of a brown wooden horse wearing a saddle. Text in black and gray letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. Nothing in nature is more beautiful than the eye of a horse.-Mark Van Doren.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Mina Lowry of a wooden carousel horse created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 06, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a long gray dress with red accents which is partially covered by a long red plaid cape. Text in gray and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. I would guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was a woman.-Virginia Woolf.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Daniel Marshack of a woman's gym outfit created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 07, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a pair of brown cupped hands. Text in blue, gray, and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. History shows that it is the hand that cradles the rock that rules the world, not the hand that rocks the cradle.-Clare Boothe Luce.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Mildred Ford of a tray for calling cards created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 08, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a brown folded side table. Text in yellow, gray, and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky. Like a patient etherized upon a table.-T.S. Eliot.

Description: A poster based on a painting by William H. Edwards of a dining table created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 09, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of red metal bank with a girl and dog on top. Text in gray and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. You can't teach an old dogma new tricks.-Dorothy Parker.

Description: A poster based on a painting by an unknown artists of a "speaking dog" bank created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 10, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a multicolored wooden scroll. Texts in gray and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. Exultation is the going. Of an inland soul to sea, Past the houses-past the headlands-Into deep Eternity-Bred as we, among the mountains, Can the sailor understand. The divine intoxication. Of the first league out from land?-Emily Dickinson.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Lucille Chabot of a billethead of a ship created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 11, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a piece of textile with a diamond design in blue and cream colors. Text in gray and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. 'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free. 'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be...-Joseph Brackett (Shaker Elder).

Description: A poster based on a painting by Alois E.Ulrich of a Shaker coverlet created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 12, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a gray rocking horse. Text in blue, gray and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. No one can teach riding as well as a horse.-C.S. Lewis.

Description: A poster based on a painting by John Fisk of a toy rocking horse created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 13, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a red and cream-colored rocking horse. Text in blue, gray, and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. Glory be to God for dappled things-For skies of couple-color as a brinded cow; For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim; Fresh-firecoal chesnut-falls; finches' wings; Landscape plotted and pierced-fold, fallow, and plough; And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.-Gerard Manley Hopkings.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Henry Tomaszewski of a rocking horse created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 14, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a brown rocking horse adjacent to a blue circle with a black outline. Text in yellow, gray, and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. A flippant critic might suggest that [Americans]select rocking chairs so that, even when sitting down, they need not be sitting still...but I think the deeper significance of the rocking chair may be found in the symbolism of the rocking horse [and reflects] a certain spirit that is childish in the good sense of the word...-G.K. Chesterton.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Raymond Neumann of a rocking horse created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 15, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a brown pottery jar. Text in yellow, gray, and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. It is the empty space within that defines the essence of the pot.-Lao-tze, Tao Te Ching.

Description: poster based on a painting by Carl Buergerniss of a clay jar created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 16, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a profile of a brown pig adjacent to a circle with a black outline. Text in blue, gray, and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. Never wrestle with a pig. You will both get dirty, and the pig likes it.-Anonymous.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Marian Page of a pig-shaped weathervane created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 17, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a profile of a cream colored pig with a saddle. Text in gray and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. And why the sea is boiling hot-And whether pigs have wings.-Lewis Carroll.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Henry Tomaszewski of a carousel pig created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 18, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a standing red bird with outstretched wings standing on a globe. Text in blue, gray, and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. Learning sleeps and snores in libraries, but wisdom is everywhere, wide wake, on tiptoes.-Josh Billings.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Chris Makrenos of a flag pole finial bird created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 19, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a number of animals standing in front of a boat house. Text in white, gray, and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. We are passengers aboard one ship, the Earth. We must care for it-there will be no second Noah's Ark.-Mikhail Gorbachev.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Ben Lassen of a toy Noah's ark created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 20, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a standing man wearing a top hat holding an instrument. adjacent to a circle outlined in black. Text in brown, gray, and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. The consensus...seems to be that if you strive hard enough to get to India you are bound to get to some America or other.-Arthur Koestler. The Art of Creation.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Ingrid Selmer Larsen of a navigator figurine created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 21, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a brown colored leather and wood bag. Text in yellow, gray, and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. Close don't count in baseball. Close only counts in horseshoes and grenades.-Frank Robinson.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Clarence Secor of a swamp shoe for horses created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 22, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a sitting gray cat with yellow eyes adjacent to a circle outlined in black. Text in yellow, gray, and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. When I play with my cat, who knows whether she isn't amusing herself with me more than I am with her?-Michel de Montaigne.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Mina Lowry of a cat-shaped bank created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 23, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a tan colored stylized animal face. Text in gray and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. He marveled at the fact that cats have two holes cut in their fur at precisely the spot where their eyes are.-Georg Christoph Lichtenberg.

Description: A poster based on a painting by John Davis of a wooden cat-shaped gargoyle created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 24, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a frog on top of round structure in gold, green, and red colors. Text in gray and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. What is robbing a bank as compared to founding a bank?-Bertholt Brecht.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Chris Makrenos of a frog-shaped bank created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 25, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a standing bearded man looking upward and wearing blue and cream colored clothes. Text in gray and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking to the stars.-Oscar Wilde.

Description: A poster based on a painting by and unknown artist of a ship's figurehead created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 26, 2022-2023]

May 2023

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a dog adjacent to a circle outlined in black. Text in black and gray letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. But soon a wonder came to light That show'd the rogues they lied: The man recovered of the bite, The dog it was that died.-Oliver Goldsmith.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Winifred Luten of a dog-shaped door stop created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 27, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a wagon with a dragon on top in cream, green, and red colors. Text in gray and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. Damn everything but the circus!-e.e. cummings.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Howard Weld of a toy circus wagon created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.
Index of American Design [poster 28, 2022-2023]

2022

Alt Text: Poster with an image of a profile of a white dog with black spots. Text in gray and black letters.

Transcription: A Poster Exhibition About the index of American Design. Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.-Groucho Marx.

Description: A poster based on a painting by Betty Fuerst of a wooden Dalmatian dog created as a part of the Index of American Design program of the United States government that ran from 1935 to 1942.