Poster Archive
This page provides an archive of posters from 1968 through 1981. These posters were donated by William Bronston and are described in his words.
Click the images to view a larger version.
The Philosophy of Services for Children and Small is Beautiful were produced by William Bronston for the State of California Children's Circle, an unofficial representative body of policy peers from each department involved with children's issues including: Developmental Services, Early Childhood Care, Mental Health, California Children's Services, Early Childhood Prevention Services, Children's Social Services, Maternal and Child Health Services, Drug and Alcohol Services and the Department of Education. Governor Jerry Brown appointed this group.
The Philosophy of Services for Children was a way of building a value basis for linking children's programs.
Small is Beautiful was specifically designed to give to parents who had the most premature infants that required specialized in hospital support at birth, and intensive training for families to help deal with such at-risk children, both physically and developmentally.
The Very Special Arts posters are examples of annual shows that featured art created by people with disabilities.
The DeAnna Sodoma poster is a rare example of progressive imagery depicting people with disabilities by corporate/commercial sources, and is of historical aesthetic interest.
The Performance Award is a fragment of the visual works that emerged from Project Interdependence, which includes 4 posters, a gamut of unique artistic designs, and visual publications that carried the substance of the International Year of Disabled Persons project in 1981, which William Bronston organized in California as another paradigm-shifting example to promote full integration and inclusion among teen youth, with and without disabilities, in California.
The following set of posters comes from a very intentionally designed and unique series of works associated with William Bronston teaching a semester demonstration course for both undergraduate and graduate students at Syracuse University, called "Health Advocacy for Children." The posters were created to demonstrate a sharply anti-pity, anti-charity, anti-stigmatizing imagery associated with people with disabilities, as a principled departure from universal charity imagery that defined public outreach and marketing in the field of disability services.
Each poster was designed to announce a particular topic presented in the series of lectures. The topic was printed in a detachable margin that would allow the posters to be kept as permanent art works. The posters announced each class and were distributed and exhibited throughout the university campus and surrounding community.
Each poster, beginning with the call to attend the class (the red and white "A New Course of Action"), was illustrated by a different artist; the earlier ones (dates are on the posters) by professionals who donated their time and creativity, the latter by Syracuse's high school art class students competing to have their design chosen for publication.
Each poster, with its particular slogan and creative design, was printed in a limited edition of 250. The field has not produced such an innovative and concentrated set of works aimed at shifting the paradigm of how people with disabilities represent a leading edge of experience, and values applicable to the civil and human rights and needs of the general population.
Other poster images provided by William Bronston:
HireAbility: The HireAbility campaign was part of the national Advertising Federation initiative begun by the Administration on Developmental Disabilities. This campaign featured several posters depicting famous people with captions emphasizing the need to hire people with disabilities.
More information about the HireAbility campaign can be found here: 84/84-HAC-DES.pdf