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ODU Community Collections
3000 Perry Library4427 Hampton Blvd.
Norfolk, VA 23529
Business Number: 757-683-5350
libspecialcollections@odu.edu
URL: https://www.odu.edu/library/special-collections
Anna Wagner; Mel Frizzell
Administrative Information
Conditions Governing Use
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.
Conditions Governing Access
Open to researchers without restrictions.
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.
Source of Acquisition
Brian Withers
Method of Acquisition
Gift. Accession #A2013-07
Processing Information
The finding aid was created by Anna Wagner in 2012.
Biographical or Historical Information
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
Scope and Contents
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
- Artists--United States
- War artists--United States
- World War, 1939-1945
- World War, 1939-1945--Veterans
Container List
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 1 Folder 1
Folder 1: Illustrations From Military Publications, Letters, Army Personnel Appointment Notice1943 June 30-1946 January 29Preferred Citation
[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.
- Graphic Materials box: 1 Item 1
Poster: A Letter Across the Atlantic1944 August 30Preferred Citation
Poster: A Letter Across the Atlantic, 1944 August 30, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
- Graphic Materials box: 1 Item 2
Poster: GI's Letter Home1944 September 3Preferred Citation
Poster: GI's Letter Home, 1944 September 3, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
- Graphic Materials box: 1 Item 3
Poster: Chantier Interdit au Public, (Public Not Allowed) France1944Preferred Citation
Poster: Chantier Interdit au Public, (Public Not Allowed) France, 1944, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
- Graphic Materials box: 1 Item 4
Poster: World War II, England, Scotland, and France1944-1945Preferred Citation
Poster: World War II, England, Scotland, and France, 1944-1945, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
- Graphic Materials box: 1 Item 5
Poster: Liberated Paris in the Summer of 19451945Preferred Citation
Poster: Liberated Paris in the Summer of 1945, 1945, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
- Graphic Materials box: 1 Item 6
Poster: GIs and Friends, Parisian Nightclub, Summer1945Preferred Citation
Poster: GIs and Friends, Parisian Nightclub, Summer, 1945, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
- Graphic Materials box: 1 Item 7
Poster: Parisian Watercolor Studies, Summer1945Preferred Citation
Poster: Parisian Watercolor Studies, Summer, 1945, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
- Graphic Materials box: 1 Item 8
Poster: VE DAY1945 May 8Preferred Citation
Poster: VE DAY, 1945 May 8, Box 1, George Withers Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
- Graphic Materials box: 1 Item 9
Poster: International Red Cross, Paris, GI's Drinking Coffee, Summer1945Preferred Citation
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.