Protect his future. Buy and keep war bonds

A Second World War American poster depicting a young American boy wearing red overalls, imploring civilians to invest in war bonds. By the end of the Second World War, over 85 million Americans had purchased the bonds. This poster was the work of Ruth Alexander Nichols (1893-1970) a photographer and businesswoman. She was a successful commercial photographer who was almost entirely self-taught. Nichols began her career as a photographer out of necessity, finding herself widowed in the first half of the twentieth century. Nichols wrote and illustrated some of her own books as well, including 'Babies' and 'Betty and Dolly', designed primarily as children’s books. Her early photographs of animals were published in 'National Geographic' magazine, and her images of babies and children, using ordinary children in many unposed and naturally-lighted scenes, was unique at the time. Another unique aspect of her work was her use of “Carbro” printing, a painstaking color printing process which took over twenty-four hours to complete, but which resulted in extremely detailed, lifelike prints. By 1933, Nichols had set up her own studio in New Jersey and employed two other photographers to help her with her business. Nichols continued to receive commissions for photographs, published illustrated children’s books, and produced photographs for use in both magazine features and advertising campaigns. Between 1919 and 1958, Nichols’s career as a photographer expanded and many of her photographs were published in magazines such as 'McCall’s' and 'Good Housekeeping'.