1 — The Entire Collection

UBC’s collection of Berkeley posters contains 250 items, with approximately 233 distinct designs, but not all have yet been digitized. This online collection contains 133 digital images, including 127 distinct designs. In the galleries below, these posters have been broken up thematically to illustrate some different avenues of approach. Here is the collection in its official (though arbitrary) order according to catalogue number. See also: www.library.ubc.ca/spcoll/Berkeley
PosterColl.html

2 — Peace, Humanism, Environmentalism

Many posters call for "Peace" or "Peace Now", but these simple slogans relate to a much deeper theme of humanism that animates many of these posters. They rebel against a worldview that saw causalities as statistics and that valued Vietnamese lives less than American ones. The result can be perceived as sentimental, but it is also deeply empathetic and fundamentally human. With their understanding of common humanity and their joyful bridging of cultural divides, these posters are truly 'radical'.

3 — Calls to Action

Cries to 'Unite' or 'Stop the War' raise awareness and rouse energy. But many posters are much more sophisticated in advocating specific methods of resistance. From flooding draft boards with letters to exerting economic pressure on war profiteers, these posters are both forms of dissent and teaching manuals for grass-roots resistance.

4 — Local Events

A substantial number of these posters advertise local events — anti-war plays, lectures, protests, book sales, and concerts, among others. Although often less visually inventive, these posters are no less interesting as historical documents. They record the actual grass-roots activities that took place, signifying real people and physical actions.

5 — Kent State

For students at American Campuses country-wide, Kent State was one of the proverbial straws breaking the camel's back, provoking a massive outpouring of protest and poster production. The fact that American troops had actually shot and killed young Americans protesting the war, coupled with the Nixon Administration's callous response, seems to have tapped a deep well of anxiety and resentment. The shock and horror of the now iconic images of the Kent State shootings are very much in evidence here.

6 — Amerika, Police, Soliders

Just as many posters attempt to understand and humanize the Vietnamese in a way that 'official' political discourse seemed to disallow, many posters also grapple with the nature of 'America', trying re-define the meaning of 'patriotism' and depicting the war as divisive and anti-American. Others pay particular attention to those who were authorized to use force on behalf of the state, such as soldiers and policemen. The images of 'pigs' take up popular tropes of the time, and many achieve a kind of Orwellian foreboding.

7 — Exclamations, Reflections, Meditations

8 — Money, Corporatism, Technology