George Withers Papers

Collection

Collection ID: MG 113

Staff Only

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.

Dates

1943-1946
Other: Date acquired: 10/11/2012

Creator

Withers, George (1911-1959) (Person)

Extent

1.20 Linear Feet

Conditions Governing Access

Open to researchers without restrictions.

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.

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