Posters for Peace

The art of the Peace Corps poster

by W. Sheldon Hurst

As Peace Corps launches a retro recruiting campaign to mark its 65th anniversary, the art of the poster has always been key.

A past exhibition by ArtReach Gallery and the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience did more than trace marketing materials for the agency. In images and words — including works by renowned artists Peter Max and Shepard Fairey — it explores how we think about and talk about the idea of peace itself. And how we make it.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps in 2011, Shepard Fairey created a poster that was widely distributed across the United States. The focus of the two figures is on the fruit of the earth being carefully lifted from the fields below; plants frame this central image. The plant in the woman’s hands is not simply a seedling; it doubles as the sun, radiating both light and life. A closer look reveals, at the center of the sun/plant, a peace sign, inviting consideration of the grounding relationships that bring about the rooting and leafing essential to the work of feeding others as well as ourselves. This idea of multifaceted relationships has been the work of Peace Corps since its creation in 1961.

My wife, Karen Hurst (Tunisia 1966–68), was gifted this poster in 2015 shortly after we moved to Portland, Oregon. Remembering a Peter Max Peace Corps poster from the 1960s, I started to be curious about the posters adopted by the Peace Corps, and about their various purposes.

Posting Peace became the title of this exhibition, which grew out of connections and conversations with returned Volunteers in the Portland area. It was inspired by an aphorism of the late Oregon poet William Stafford, whose interest and commitment to peacemaking is well-known: “We put in a cottonwood post. It rooted and leafed.” The amazing image of the post rooting and leafing to new life captures the spirit of Peace Corps. That Volunteers are “posted” to serve in numerous places in the world is another understanding of the title. The title was also inspired by another Stafford aphorism: “Go in peace — but go.” Here are a few of the posters included in the exhibit.

This feature story in WorldView magazine also features stories behind some posters, the impact they had at the time, how they resonate decades later — and how they might be different if made today.

“Peace Corps: A Promise…An Accomplishment…A Hope…1961–1981”

1981 poster, 17″ x 22″. Museum of the Peace Corps Experience. Donated by Usama Khalidi (Oman 1981–83)

“Think local. Act global.”

2003 poster 30″ x 22″. On loan from Stevenson Center for Economic and Community Development at Illinois State University

“Next to food, what the world needs most is someone who knows how to grow it.”

July 1972 poster, 11″ x 8 ½”. Museum of the Peace Corps Experience. Donated by Nancy Gallant (Malaysia 1969–71)

“When you get back you can say, ‘I’d do it again’ in Swahili. Life is calling. How far will you go?”

2003 poster, 8 ¾” x 21 ¾”. On loan from Stevenson Center for Economic and Community Development at Illinois State University

“Here’s your wake up call.”

2003 poster, 30″ x 22″. On loan from Stevenson Center for Economic and Community Development at Illinois State University

“The marketplace is global. You should be too.”

Undated poster 14″ x 8 ¾”. Museum of the Peace Corps Experience. Donated by Stevenson Center for Economic and Community Development at Illinois State University

“The corner office can wait. Some corners of the world can’t. Life is calling. How far will you go?”

2003 poster, 30″ x 22″. On loan from Stevenson Center for Economic and Community Development at Illinois State University

“Peace Corps.” 1971 design by Peter Max

Reproduction poster 11″ x 16″ printed by Barnes Press, New York. Original 21″ x 26″. Museum of the Peace Corps Experience

“Help Peace the World Together: Peace Corps.” 1972 anonymous design

Poster printed e-file, 15″ x 11 1/2″. Peace Corps Partnership Program. Museum of the Peace Corps Experience. Donated by National Archive and Records Administration

“You.” 2011 Peace Corps: 50th Anniversary 1961–2011. Designed by Gary Jameson

Screenprint 161/250, 18″ x 12″. Museum of the Peace Corps Experience. Donated by Anne Baker (Fiji 1985–87)

“Peace Corps of the United States of America 1961–1991.” 1991 30th Anniversary Map

Office of Recruitment Resources and Marketing poster, 27″ x 36″. Design: Chris Fauver of Greenfield/Belsar Ltd. Museum of the Peace Corps Experience. Donated by Janet Matts (Kenya 1977–79)

“Peace Corps.” March 1, 2011. Designed by Shepard Fairey. 50th Anniversary Commemorative Print

Screen print on French Cream Speckletone paper, 2/450, 24″ x 18″. Museum of the Peace Corps Experience. Donated by Wylie and Janet Greig (India 1966–68)

“How much can you give? How much can you take? Find out in the Peace Corps.”

c.1965 poster, 11″ x 10 1/2″. Advertising Council. Museum of the Peace Corps Experience. Donated by Ethel Fleming (Micronesia 1966–68)

“The Peace Corps sent me to work with farmers in Costa Rica…”

1995 photograph by Donna Day, Kellet Group & Jamie Sheehan, 11″ x 17″. Museum of the Peace Corps Experience. Donated by Doug Newlin (El Salvador 1965–67, Papua New Guinea 2000) and Sheila Newlin (Papua New Guinea 2000)

“Peace Corps Poland, Friends of Poland, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2001.”

Designed by Janusz Tyszluèwicz. Poster, 27″ x 19″. Museum of the Peace Corps Experience. Donated by John Keeton (Thailand 1965–67, Peace Corps staff 1970–76, 1984–92)

“Still the Toughest Job You’ll Ever Love”

Peace Corps celebrates its 65th Anniversary and America 250 with a nostalgia-themed recruitment campaign, 2026

This story is adapted from an article in the Winter 2023 issue of WorldView. See more from the poster exhibit at the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience.