Signs of the times

Since antiquity, the practice of posting up hand-drawn public notices has been a major source of communication. Even in the internet age, posters continue to be created daily around the world, although few are now produced by hand.

Posters were one of the earliest forms of advertisement but it wasn’t until the early 19^th century that they became the visual media we know today. They influenced the development of typography and became a staple of the graphic design trade. As they had to be read from a distance the larger type required was usually made from wood rather than metal. Posters were used to promote political parties, recruit soldiers, advertise products and events, spread ideas, and convey information to the general public.

Posters, as we know them today, are said to have begun in 1866 when French poster artist Jules Chéret (1836 - 1932) began producing colour lithograph posters, having improved the black and white process invented by Alois Senefelder in 1798. Lithographic printing involves drawing a design in waxy crayon onto a smooth surface, usually a limestone block or metal plate, which is doused with water and covered in an oil-based ink. The waxy-drawn areas repel the water and soak up the ink before being transferred to the paper.  Most posters are still printed lithographically today, although the process is now mechanised with the image transferred from a metal plate to a rubber roller before printing.

OUR poster collection

Amongst the State Library’s 64 kilometres of storage (that’s the approximate equivalent of walking around the perimeter of the Adelaide Oval 69 times, or walking the length of the Sydney Harbour Bridge 55 times!) lie a group of cabinets containing the bulk of the Library’s South Australian poster collection – over 12,000 of them, spanning the last 120 years. The collection includes posters of various sizes  (large, small) and includes Adelaide Festival and Fringe posters.

Less than 200 have been digitised to date but the plan is to digitise the whole poster collection. Before this can happen the posters need to be audited. This means the posters need to be sighted, inspected, barcoded and any catalogue errors corrected. We started this audit in late 2021 and approximately 4,000 posters have been audited so far.

Once digitised the poster collection will be available to the public online (copyright and other restrictions allowing). Digitisation not only allows many of the State Library’s collections to be available from anywhere there’s an internet connection, but it also reduces handling of the originals, helping to preserve them. The other benefit of digitising the posters is that the catalogue record gives little idea of what is actually on the poster. Being able to view an image will help customers to track down posters relevant to their research.

Why are posters a valuable research subject?

Over time, posters can show changes in design, typefaces, paper, prices, government priorities, social issues, how people spend their leisure, and the rise and fall of groups, trends and organisations. Many are works of art as well as information carriers.

During the audit, we’ve come to think of posters being in two main groups: blasts from the past and history repeating. Check out the following poster samples for an idea of what’s in the collection.

Blasts from the past

It is interesting looking at the themes of some of the posters and how much has changed over the years.