NYS Library Blog

August is National Sandwich Month, and here at the NYS Library, we’ve been celebrating in style by searching our unparalleled collections for information on sandwiches. To kick off our celebration of this deeply personal food and its place in American gastronomy, let’s consume Seven Hundred Sandwiches.  

Some Sort of Filling, Obvious or Mysterious

In 1928, reporter and newspaper editor Florence A. Cowles published her book Seven Hundred Sandwiches (available in the NYS Library’s Digital Collections) in response to what she calls “a constant and insistent demand for new ideas in sandwiches, new combinations in fillings and new and attractive architectural plans for construction” (p. vi). Cowles’s work in newspapers allowed her to compile hundreds of recipes, many of which were not otherwise available in print. She lays out the state of the sandwich in 1928 as follows:

For the sandwich, simple in its primary elements, has become both complex and compound. Long humble, unpretentious and purely utilitarian, in recent years it has acquired a patrician estheticism and has gained in popularity by gigantic strides. Some branches of the now numerous sandwich family have risen in life and put on  airs. Scornful of anything so plebeian as a picnic, they bloom exotically at afternoon teas and receptions. But they, with the sturdier members of the clan which are found in the working man’s or school child’s lunch box, have all a common and a primary idea—some sort of filling, obvious or mysterious, inserted in a carrier, usually of some kind of bread.

The book's introductory chapter orients the reader to some basic rules of sandwich-making, including careful bread selection and the preparation of spreadable butter. Cowles insists on even, tidy, and well-seasoned sandwiches that do not “ooze out disastrously” when eaten. There is considerable space given to the merits of mayonnaise versus boiled salad dressing and when each should be employed. If these details seem persnickety, consider Cowles’s insistence on page 3 that these techniques are the secret to a satisfying sandwich. Without them, she cautions, the resulting sandwich is “merely a mournful and irritating reminder of how good it might have been.” 

Many classic sandwiches appear in this recipe book, some trailed by a series of creative variations. The remainder of the sandwiches range from pleasantly novel to genuinely startling, at least for modern readers and eaters. Highlights include the Mystery Cheese Sandwich—“so called because the ingredients blend so harmoniously that it is hard to tell just what is in it” — and the Emergency Sandwich, a combination of eggs, peanut butter, mustard, and pickles that is reportedly good on rye bread. The nature of the emergency that precipitated this sandwich is not clear.

As a guidebook to sandwich culture in the United States up to 1928, Seven Hundred Sandwiches is an invaluable resource for food historians and sandwich completists. Thanks to the style and wit of its author, the book captures sandwich-making as a science and an art, as well as an essential facet of the American diet. As it turns out, just like Florence Cowles’s ribbon sandwiches (p. 193), this topic has layers. 

Find Your Sandwich Center

In the 1940s, the New York State Emergency Food Commission drew on the popularity and flexibility of sandwiches in an effort to boost home front nutrition and morale during World War II. The cover of the resulting booklet, Wartime Spreads and Sandwich Fillings, depicts two women eating sandwiches out of metal lunch boxes, evidently so productive that they haven’t bothered to leave the factory floor for lunch. The booklet’s introduction from Commissioner L.A. Maynard discusses the need for nutrition and variety in sandwiches when traditional fillings like meat and butter may be scarce. “This calls for sandwiches,” Maynard writes, “— sandwiches that are top-notch in taste as well as in nutritive value, — sandwiches that will not grow tiresome when eaten day in and day out.”

Wartime Spreads and Sandwich Fillings is heavy on nutritional information but does not skimp on recipes or the minutiae of sandwich craft. Included in its tips for sandwich-making are points on choosing good bread, spreading fillings to the crusts, wrapping sandwiches appropriately for a lunch box, and creating a sandwich station, a dedicated and optimized sandwich preparation space in the home kitchen.  

The cover of a slightly later NYS document, Pack a Good Lunch, features a man in cap and coveralls toting a metal lunchbox under his arm against the backdrop of a large factory with billowing smokestacks. Pack a Good Lunch forgoes specific recipes and instead provides sample box lunch menus for school-age students and adults working various jobs.  

There are recommendations for equipment one should have on hand, as well as the suggestion to have plenty of space allotted for efficient sandwich making (no mention of a dedicated sandwich center here). The brochure fully acknowledges the importance of an enjoyable (and not just nutritious) packed lunch, and provides tips for maintaining sandwich freshness, flavor, and aesthetics. The overarching theme is careful planning. In Pack a Good Lunch, the art and science of sandwich-making as defined by Florence Cowles prevail. Both Wartime Spreads and Sandwich Fillings and Pack a Good Lunch are available to view in our Digital Collections. 

Sandwich Evolutions

Per the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink (NYS Library call number 641.3003 qO984 205-8232), sandwiches were popular in America during the first half of the nineteenth century. The sandwich effectively exploded in popularity in the mid-twentieth century when several industry innovations made it possible to produce large quantities of wrapped (and sometimes sliced) bread loaves that would retain their freshness for longer periods.  

In Seven Hundred Sandwiches, Florence Cowles pays brief tribute to the sandwich’s supposed inventor and namesake, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, said to have invented the first sandwich during a marathon card game. The etymology of “sandwich” as provided by the Oxford English Dictionary even provides a citation for this tasty story. The tale of John Montagu’s twenty-four hours at the gaming table appears in the late 18th century text Londres (the title of the English translation is A tour to London; or, new observations on England, and its inhabitants—you can find it on microfilm at the NYS Library) by travel writer Pierre Jean Grosley. In a passage describing the elite mania around gaming tables in 18th century England, Grosley provides the following:

A minister of state passed four and twenty hours at a public gaming-table, so absorpt in play, that, during the whole time, he had no subsistence but a bit of beef, between two slices of toasted bread, which he eat without ever quitting the game. This new dish grew highly in vogue, during my residence in London: it was called by the name of the minister, who invented it. 

Florence Cowles imagines the “astonishment and lively interest the sporting earl would manifest could he see the development his invention has undergone since then and its evolution from a hasty improvisation into a thing of art and intricacy.” The earl’s non-sandwich legacy was subject to its own evolutions over time, especially his record as First Lord of the British Admiralty during the American Revolution. 

Gambler’s Buffet

As it turns out, the earl may not have been all that astonished to hear the story of the club sandwich, though he certainly would have taken lively interest in its place of origin. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America tells us that the club sandwich was a popular menu item at the Canfield Casino in Saratoga Springs, NY, during the 1890s. The entry reads: “The casino’s dining room was known for its fine cuisine and for its gambler’s buffet, which provided delicious food for those who wanted minimum interruption of their gaming pursuits.”  

The 1940 Federal Writers’ Project text, New York: A Guide to the Empire State (NYS Library call number 917.47 W95), goes even further, stating that: “Canfield solitaire was originated in the Casino’s gaming rooms, and the club sandwich in its kitchen.” A competing club sandwich myth places the first instance in dining (or club) cars on trains. It also introduces a new layer to the sandwich’s controversial backstory (or in this case, takes one away): While Cowles assures the reader that club sandwiches can comprise one to five layers, or stories, this is far from settled. Another reference title, the Oxford Companion to Food (NYS Library call number 641.3003 qD252 200-13537), introduces the argument that the original club sandwich was a two-decker sandwich, not a three-decker, and was stylistically aligned with the two-decker club cars running on U.S. railroads in the 1890s. 

Menus from the NYS Library’s collection help to provide some perspective on the club controversies but fail to provide definitive answers. A menu from the New York Central System Dining Service does not list a club sandwich, let alone indicate the number of toast slices used in its construction. Menus from historic locations such as the Adelphi Hotel (also in Saratoga Springs) and the Saranac Inn Tea Room list club sandwiches but do not account for the layers. However, a menu for the Park View Restaurant opens with a dedicated section of seven separate “toasted club” sandwiches. This menu helpfully indicates that its sandwiches comprised “3 tiers.” They also came with french fries. 

Other titles available in the Library provide a glimpse into the restaurant industry in the early 20th century from the purveyors’ point of view. Ideas for refreshment rooms; hotel, restaurant, lunch room, tea room, coffee shop, cafeteria, dining car, industrial plant, school, club, soda fountain; a ready reference to catering methods, covering a wide range of practice compiles articles from a historic trade journal, The Hotel Monthly, to create an inspiration book for culinary entrepreneurs. The book provides photographs, sample floorplans, inventory templates, and some recipe tips from establishments across the country. 

Much of the book's focus is given to large restaurants, but the sections of the book that explore lunch counters, dining cars, and gentlemen’s clubs help to fill in some details around the sandwich scene in America at that time. One section about lunch counters describes a saloon in Chicago which found great success during Prohibition by converting to a “sandwich and soft drinks bar” (p. 127). Says the description: “The hundred or more feet of bar are unchanged…The bar offers soft drinks, near beer, milk and buttermilk. The cigar stand is in its old place. In the center of the room are carving stands for the making and sale of sandwiches. At the far end of the room is a table for pickles and other relishes.” Despite the book's attention to dining cars and clubs, there are no clues available as to the number of toast slices in a club sandwich or its supposed origin. 

Without definitive answers to these enduring club questions, we can only invoke the unfailing wisdom of Florence Cowles, who writes: “Who invented and christened the club sandwich? And how, why, when and where? No authoritative answers to these questions are available... Anyway, who cares, and what difference does it make?” 

All the good things of life—both big and small

Other iconic sandwiches are altogether easier to track down in the historical record, such as the comically tall and eclectic Dagwood sandwich. This teetering creation regularly appeared in Chic Young's Blondie comic strip and usually involved Blondie’s husband Dagwood clearing the fridge of leftovers to create a zany layered sandwich for himself. Readers hungry for details can read the 1944 strip titled “A Burp Special” for the specifics of Dagwood Bumstead’s craft. In the comic, Dagwood loads his arms from fingertip to shoulder with leftovers, constructs a gigantic sandwich, and dowels it together with a hot dog for added stability. This strip is available to view online as part of the Blondie Gets Married! exhibit from the Library of Congress. 

In the early 1950s, the NYS Department of Mental Hygiene (which would later reorganize into a few related state agencies) leveraged the popularity of Blondie, Dagwood, and their family to build awareness around mental health. The Department of Mental Hygiene’s 1952 annual report describes one of these mass education campaigns. In partnership with King Features Syndicate, Blondie’s publisher, the Department published a Blondie comic book with stories exploring mental health topics. The comic book was distributed at the New York State Fair alongside other educational resources, including a Blondie bookmark. The bookmark, titled “Let’s ask Blondie and her happy family, what is mental health?” (available to view in the Library’s Digital Collections) features mental health prompts and tips alongside charming drawings of the Bumstead family in their daily lives. One illustration depicts Dagwood (the man) staring down a larger-than-life Dagwood (the sandwich), complete with multiple layers of veggies, cheeses, something resembling spaghetti, fried eggs, and a whole lobster. 

Bonus: Is it a sandwich?

Aside from questions of sandwich provenance and just how many pieces of toast are appropriate, there is one enduring question about sandwiches that captures the imagination more than any other. That question is, with regard to burgers, hotdogs, and tacos: is it a sandwich?  

If you don’t have the time to debate the merits of this argument (perhaps because you need to plan and execute an exquisite packed lunch), you can consult NYS Tax Bulletin ST-835 (TB-ST-835). It explains which food items are considered sandwiches for sales tax purposes in New York State.

More to Try at the NYS Library

There are many resources at the NYS Library to help you get started with your own culinary research, sandwich-themed or otherwise: 

National Sandwich Month

Observance of National Sandwich Month began in the 1950s at the insistence of industry groups like the National Restaurant Association and the Wheat Flour Institute. It sometimes included a Sandwich Month recipe contest. Curious readers can find extensive coverage of the National Sandwich Month and its recipe contest in the New York Times from the 1950s to the 1980s.  These articles can be retrieved from New York Times – Historical, part of the NYS Library’s extensive collection of databases.

Food Encyclopedias

The reference materials on the NYS Library’s 7th floor are available to visitors for onsite use. These stacks are open for browsing. Plan your visit—in addition to titles like the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, you'll find titles such as The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food and Drink Industries; Fast Food and Junk Food: An Encyclopedia of What We Love to Eat; and Nectar & Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology. 

New York State Menus

In Manuscripts and Special Collections, the Menu collection (QC16500) comprises menus from commemorative dinners, hotels, railways, and more culinary touchstones from New York’s history. New York’s cultural institutions are home to many additional menu collections! While you can use the NYS Library catalog to identify collections found in the Historical Document Inventory (HDI), it’s important to note that HDI items are not located at the NYS Library. Please be sure to contact the individual repositories before planning a visit.

New York State Documents

Since its creation in 1818, the NYS Library has been a repository of official State publications of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, commissions, public authorities, and other agencies of State government. Sandwiches are only one example of the countless topics addressed in NYS publications. Use the Library’s catalog to search our collection of New York State documents—the largest in the world. 

Interactive programming that is rooted in educational theory and research. Lovable characters and playful storylines. 

When children engage with content from educational television, learning comes alive! PBS KIDS series are developmentally appropriate, safe, and effective learning tools. The best part? It’s free and accessible to all New Yorkers – on-air, online, and in the community.  

This message was part of the New York State Education Department’s Early Learning Institute on Thursday, August 7. During an afternoon keynote presentation, Lauren Moore, Assistant Commissioner for Libraries and State Librarian, highlighted public broadcasting as a vital part of our state’s education ecosystem. She was joined at the event by Cara Rager, Director of Early Learning at WXXI Public Media based in Rochester, NY. Ms. Rager presented a breakout session to event attendees and shared this:

“Stations around the country and here in New York are early learning partners in their local and regional communities. We work collaboratively alongside libraries, schools, and early learning programs to support young children and families and their foundational learning experiences.  

At WXXI, our education team’s job is to bring PBS KIDS to life in our real community spaces. This allows families and providers to see how PBS KIDS content can be used to compliment and amplify early learning opportunities. In all our work, we are guided by the needs of local children and mindful of developmentally appropriate practices around media usage, literacy and numeracy, social skills, and emotional literacy.”

Educational television stations in New York broadcast PBS KIDS content every weekday during carefully curated daytime schedules on their primary channel. Most local viewing markets also feature a 24/7 PBS KIDS secondary channel which is available at no cost to families. Access to this educational on-air programming, and online games and apps, provides all New Yorkers with daily opportunities to learn – regardless of income.

It also promotes and encourages age-appropriate and healthy media habits. When this is combined with child/adult co-viewing of PBS KIDS content, a wonderful environment of joyful learning awaits!

To learn more about the connection between early literacy and educational television, visit the New York State Educational Television Early Learning Brief (PDF).  

The NYS Library is proud to highlight its longstanding partnership with the Capital District Genealogical Society (CDGS). CDGS is a dynamic genealogical society serving the counties of Albany, Columbia, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Washington and beyond.

Capital District Genealogical Society volunteers graciously offer their time and expertise to assist visitors at the NYS Research Library, where they operate a genealogy help desk. Volunteers can assist visitors who are just getting started or those with more specific questions. The NYS Library’s Reference Unit maintains a schedule of onsite CDGS volunteers. If you would like to meet with a Society volunteer, we recommend calling the Library’s Reference Desk ahead of time to ensure that someone from CDGS will be available on the day you plan to conduct your research.

Genealogy Visits at the NYS Library

The Local History and Genealogy Section is one of the busiest sections of the New York State Library, as it is used by people who are tracing the history of their families, as well as by professional genealogical researchers, biographers, and historians who are seeking information about the collective history of families or the domestic life of a period in American history.

Visitors are always welcome on the 7th floor during Library hours, and library staff members can provide on-site assistance in the use of the collection, suggest research strategies, and provide referrals to sources not available in the State Library. However, we recommend contacting us ahead of your visit, especially if you are interested in meeting with a CDGS volunteer.  

You can find all the information you need to plan your genealogy adventure at the NYS Library: 

• Ask a Librarian
• Genealogy Collection Page
• Plan Your Visit to the NYS Library 
• NYS Library Hours 

Learn More About CDGS

CDGS’ mission centers on education for both members and the general public. The Society produces a quarterly newsletter informing members of upcoming events, research tips and tricks, genealogical narratives, and volunteer opportunities. CDGS offers engaging educational programming on current research practices and valuable collections related to family history. To accommodate a wider audience, educational programs are accessible both online and in-person. Society members help shape the goals and offerings of CDGS. Beyond educational events, members can participate in special interest groups such as a Writer’s Group and Jewish and French genealogy sections.  

In addition to events and opportunities to connect, CDGS volunteers receive and respond to research requests related to families and individuals connected to the Capital District and surrounding counties. 

As the New York State regional depository for United States government publications, the NYS Library receives and preserves a copy of every document distributed under the Government Publishing Office's Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). The FDLP operates collection management regions to help share, strategize, and support access to critical government information. In its role as a regional depository, NYS Library staff work with selective libraries, who receive a limited selection of FDLP materials, to support their collection management strategies.

In mid-August, Library staff visited Albany Law School to review FDLP materials scheduled for withdrawal as part of the school’s collection management strategy. NYS Library staff identified items that would benefit our users and will work to add those items to our collections to ensure their availability to library users, researchers, and all New Yorkers.

FDLP libraries work together to ensure the preservation of and equal access to these materials. The NYS Library works with 65 libraries across the state to ensure that at least one copy of every FDLP publication is retained by either the NYS Library or one of the selective libraries across the state.

Read more about the NYS Library’s participation in the Federal Depository Library Program on our website. 

The New York City Municipal Archives has undertaken work to preserve and rehouse around 100,000 architectural drawings of lower Manhattan buildings. The plans, dating from the mid-1800s to the 1970s, include elevations, floor plans, and details of buildings on 958 New York City blocks.

This project was completed with support from the NYS Library's Program for the Conservation and Preservation of Library Research Materials. This long-standing program supports the growth of local and cooperative preservation programs and encourages the care and accessibility of research materials in New York State.  

We hope you’ll take some time to explore the Municipal Archives and their work to preserve these fascinating materials. You can find an update on the Manhattan Building Plans project on their blog.

Please visit the NYS Library’s Division of Library Development for more information on the Conservation/Preservation Discretionary Grant Program, our state-funded program to preserve library research materials in cultural institutions. You'll find application instructions, program contact information, applicant resources, and more. 

What do Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Dutch Royal Family have in common? Both have gone cruising in a Packard now housed by the New York State Museum and recently featured in their popular Look at This video series. In the Museum’s latest episode, Steve shares facts about this rare item in the Museum’s collections. The 1932 Packard was purchased by New York State for Franklin D. Roosevelt and remained in the state’s fleet until the 1950s when it was replaced by Governor Thomas E. Dewey’s Cadillac. At nearly 100 years old, this Packard still runs and has been on display at car shows and the fourth floor of the Cultural Education Center. It’s well-cared for by Museum workers!  

Want to learn more about the Packard Company and Car?  

Take a spin through the Empire State Library Network’s (ESLN) NY Heritage Digital Collections, where librarians from across the state have compiled a treasure trove of documents to explore online. The collection includes photographs, letters, diaries, maps, directories, artifacts, oral histories, and more – all of which help tell the story of New York’s history. Visitors to the site can browse by region, by collection, or by specific items, like the Mr. Packard in an early Packard model car or the Packard Family collection. 

This photograph is from the Lakewood Memorial Library, one of 36 member libraries in the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System. James Ward Packard sits in the driver's seat of an open top Packard with two rows of bench seats. The vehicle is on a rural, dirt road with trees and vegetation behind it. Packard's hand is on the steering wheel. The description of the photograph states that the steering wheel helps us date the vehicle's model: it is most likely a Model C Packard, built around 1901. 

ESLN comprises the nine Reference and Research Library Resources Councils – each a multi-type library system in New York State. ESLN’s unique structure provides entry for libraries and archives of all types and sizes into a statewide platform for shared services and collaborations. NY Heritage Digital Collections is just one of the services offered by ESLN. Other digital projects, with the aim of advancing New York libraries and archives through collaboration, include providing free online access to NYS Historic Newspapers and an effort to create an online finding aid index for New York repositories with the Empire Archival Discovery Cooperative.  

NY Heritage Digital Collections is constantly adding new material and welcomes libraries, historical associations, and museums to contribute to the collection. What is your town famous for? What great stories should future New Yorkers know about?  

The Packard in NYS Library Collections

A 1909 Hand Book of Gasoline Automobiles, available to view in the NYS Library Digital Collections, shows 11 different models of Packard vehicles in production at that time. The handbook opens with an announcement about the publisher, the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers, and their recent accomplishments. Two of their primary accomplishments were the contributions of the Association in raising standards for design and construction and the standardization of automobile parts. 

The Packard 30 Touring Car, with a cost of $4200, had a "Packard blue" body and frame with cream yellow running gear. The vehicle had an open top and could seat seven. Specifications of the vehicles, from the tire dimensions to the type of ignition, are listed for each.

The Packard 18 Limousine could seat five with two folding seats. Curtains can be seen in the windows. There is a latched box on the running board of the vehicle. This model cost $2900 for the chassis with an additional $1400 for the body.

Be sure to check out the NYS Museum’s Look at This series on social media. Follow this space as we dig into NYS Library collections and electronic resources to discover what related material we can find!   

During the 1970s and 80s tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) exploded in popularity, along with magazines to promote them. Issues of some of these magazines are held in NYSL’s Manuscripts and Special Collections as part of the Mike Gunderloy Factsheet Five Collection, along with other publications relating to TTRPGs.

Dragon was launched in 1976 by TSR, Inc. (originally Tactical Studies Rules) to promote their new game, Dungeons & Dragons. It continued through TSR’s purchase by Wizards of the Coast before finally ceasing publication in 2013. Throughout its lifetime, Dragon introduced rules, spells, campaign settings, and monsters for Dungeons & Dragons.

Different Worlds launched in 1979 and ran until 1987. Chaosium created it to cover a variety of TTRPGs, including their own system, RuneQuest. It included game ideas and strategies as well as reviews of games and an interview section called “My Life and Roleplaying” that featured major players of the industry.

Both publications capture a particular moment in time, when TTRPGs were on the rise, but had not yet fully settled into an established pattern. While Dungeons & Dragons was very much the dominant game, as evidenced by how much space the early issues of Different Worlds dedicate to it, there were plenty of popular alternatives and its dominance was not all-encompassing.

Several issues of Dragon and Different Worlds publications feature as part of the display Changing the Game: Board Games, Card Games, and TTRPGs running August and September 2025 on the 7th floor of the New York State Library.

By following accessibility practices in our day-to-day work, we ensure equitable access to information and services, and we can shift our culture more generally toward inclusivity. Accessibility is absolutely central to our public service mission, and we work to apply accessibility to our internal and external communications.  

Each month, the OCE Accessibility for All Committee shares a helpful digital accessibility tip to apply to our day-to-day work. This month, we’re expanding on the topic of alt text by tackling images of text. 

Images and Text

Sharing announcements on social media with digital flyers and other informational images is very common in today’s digital spaces. While this practice leverages the popularity of images in social content to spread a message, it often excludes users who might be using assistive technology to access an organization’s online content, as text contained within an image is not available to screen readers.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t use images of text to share a message online—it just means there are additional steps to make such images accessible. 

Accessible Images 

All the content in an image or document must be available to users regardless of how they choose to interact with that content. It’s helpful to spend some time learning about how people with disabilities use the web and to leverage that knowledge toward inclusive communications.

Readers with a visual disability may use a screen reader to navigate the web. Screen reader software recites the contents of a webpage or document in audio format and provides tools for navigating and interacting with it. When the screen reader encounters an image, it announces the presence of an image followed by its contents as described in the provided alt text. If you don’t include any alt text, a user won’t be able to benefit from what’s being communicated in the image, even if the message is communicated with text. 

Take Action: Break it up!  

Any text you include inside an image must also be described outside of the image, either in alt text or through other means. Your approach will likely vary based on your aims, your audience, and the platform you are using to share information. We’ll look at some examples below. 

Example: Social Media Post 

Informational flyers about public programs and other services are a great way to package information about your institution. Programs like Canva have made it easier than ever to design digital flyers that can be shared on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Below is an example of a NYS Library print flyer which has been converted to a PNG file for sharing online. It contains some descriptive copy as well as an image that represents the exhibit being advertised: 

There are multiple ways you can provide access to the text in this image. One approach is to provide alternative text, or alt text, for the image. Alt text is not visible on the webpage, but it is available to screen reader software.  

It’s not always possible to add alt text to a social media image. This depends largely on the platform as well as the tools your organization may use to manage your social media presence. In this case, it can be helpful to simply add the text from the image to the text of your social media post.  

You may opt to add this text to the body of the post or to incorporate it into your hashtag strategy as an #ImageDescription. The bottom line is always ensuring that information contained within an image is available outside of the image as well. If you are able to highlight the text with your cursor, it will be available to screen readers! 

Example: Email Announcement 

It’s increasingly common for organizations to share images of flyers as an email. Using an image of text as the body of an email renders the content unavailable to many users and should be avoided. Again, this does not mean that an announcement email cannot contain images. When using email to share a flyer, there are multiple approaches that ensure accessibility: 

• Consider attaching a PDF flyer to your email instead of pasting in an image of a flyer. PDFs can be set up to retain tags like headings and images, and can accommodate complex alt text.
• If you use the body of the email, consider adding text and images as separate elements. Be sure to still describe the visual elements with alt text if they add information or flavor to the communications. 

Here’s what the same flyer might look like as an email:

Email Subject: NYS Library Exhibit: Changing the Game

Email body:

Changing the Game: Board Games, Card Games, and TTRPGs

Located on the 7th Floor of the Cultural Education Center, August-September 

Potential alt text for this version of the image might read: Black and white illustration of men and women in 19th century clothing playing a board game. Text overlay: An exciting new display from the New York State Library.

Resources to Take This Further 

For additional strategies and tips, please explore the free resources below: 

• Accessible Social: A robust free resource to assist in the creation of accessible social media content. Includes a glossary of terms, accessibility learning modules, and best practices for inclusive social media content. 
• Cooper Hewitt Guidelines For Image Description: Includes detailed guidance and examples of alt text for many kinds of images and objects. 
• How People with Disabilities Use the Web: Find detailed stories from web users, an introduction to assistive technology tools, and a fantastic video series highlighting accessibility features. 

Written by Liam P. Errickson, Digital Services, Student Assistant 

The New York State Library is currently undertaking a long-term project to digitize the World War I Posters Collection (SC23360) found within our Manuscripts and Special Collections. A number of posters from this collection focus on the role of women in the war effort, from the establishment of national committees for women, the increase of women in the work force, and the influence the first World War had on the push for women’s suffrage. 

About the World War I Posters Collection

Containing between 3,600 to 3,700 posters and related ephemera dating from circa 1914 to 1920, the World War I Posters Collection is comprised of donations, primarily from two residents of Albany, New York: Cuyler Reynolds (1866-1934) and Benjamin Walworth Arnold (1864-1932). Additional, smaller sets of donations were provided by the Maryland War Records Commission and The Commissariat Général à l'Information et à la Propagande, Paris, France. The collection is made up of posters created by government and military agencies, patriotic societies, and private organizations in support of the war effort. While the bulk of the posters (2,090 items) were created by American artists to entreat the American public to assist with the war effort, the collection is multinational in geographic expanse and language. Other posters in the collection range from across Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Australia.  

For biographical and historical notes regarding the collection, collection groupings and item lists, and the collection’s scope and content note, see the World War I Posters Collection finding aid. You can view currently digitized posters in the NYS Library’s Digital Collections.

The Establishment of National Committees for Women

During the first World War, many organizations were established privately or by the American government that sought to aid the war effort on the home front, often utilizing existing social expectations to guide citizen participation. During World War I, posters by such organizations sought to persuade specific action like enlistment, provision of financial support, or work in relief organizations. Select posters in our United States General collection grouping demonstrate the emerging role of women in wartime society. 

The first of the two examples, US GEN 0139, was created as the first bulletin for the Woman’s Committee, Ohio Branch, Council of National Defense and is dated March 1st, 1918. It lays out the purpose of the organization, that it was appointed by the federal government to act as a communication device to coordinate women’s organizations for war service, and reinforces the social expectation of women in Ohio to work with them during World War I. Other bulletins from the Ohio Branch of the Woman’s Committee can be viewed in the NYS Library Digital Collections, with focus on donations, child development needs, the call for young women to enroll as nurses, and electric and gas preservation. Women in Ohio were seemingly expected to use the bulletins for household management and social obligations. 

Social expectations of women, as perpetuated by posters from national committees, can also be seen with the second example, US GEN 0166, depicted above from 1918, The Ten Commandments of Womanhood. Prepared by the President of the Connecticut Congress of Mothers and issued by the Connecticut State Council of Defense, this poster uses the Judeo-Christian reference to the Ten Commandments to tie religion to social expectations during the Great War. Commandments dictated how women were expected to act or conduct themselves, such as “thou shall not be vain and self-seeking,” and “thou shalt not bedeck thyself lavishly.” Instructions were also given to not waste time, substance, or bread. Women were expected to remember and use this rubric to act as active sources of support for men. One commandment states to “hearten thy men and weep not,” while another states, “bind up the wounds of thy men and soften their pain.” Finally, it ties back to religious expectations with commandments such as “serve thou the Lord thy God with diligence,” and “keep thou the faith of thy mothers.” 

Women and the War Effort

Women were encouraged to join or assist organizations such as the Salvation Army and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) to offer physical assistance outside the domestic sphere. This can be seen particularly through posters and broadsides that call for assisting women who were filling the vacancies of necessary jobs, aiding organizations to help the injured and hungry, and raising money through the United War Work Campaign. These posters are visually stimulating and use large images to persuade and inspire.

Women were encouraged to become nurses for the Salvation Army and to leave the United States of America to help injured soldiers and civilians abroad. The NYS Library has multiple posters that emphasize the roll of the Salvation Army and its nurses. In US GEN 1435,  this undated poster calls for joining the Red Cross with a quote from Woodrow Wilson: “I summon you to comradeship in the Red Cross.” A young woman in a nurse’s outfit stands next to the logo of the Red Cross, clutching the American flag as she calls out in front of the United States Capitol. 

The call for women to join the workforce can be seen in the above poster, US GEN 0025, that asks “for every fighter a woman worker.” The woman in brown coveralls and brown hat responds by holding aloft a biplane in her right hand and an artillery shell in her left hand. The poster proclaims to “care for her through the YWCA,” whose logo, a blue and white inverted triangle, she stands in front of. The message of this poster is two-fold. First, a woman can serve her country by working in factories during the labor shortage and building tools to support the war effort. Second, that a woman can work in the same professions as men, which created new ideas about the inclusion of women in the work force after the war. 

Pushing for Women’s Suffrage

Women’s factory work and inclusion in the workforce led to an appeal for women’s suffrage. Some states passed women’s suffrage in the 1800s, but the 19th amendment was not ratified nationally until 1920. During World War I, when employers started to allow women to work and fill positions held predominantly only by men, the suffrage movement gained traction. The following two posters depict explicit calls for women’s suffrage. 

The first poster, US GEN 0235, opens with the text, “we are ready to work beside you, fight beside you and die beside you. Let us vote beside you. Vote for woman suffrage November 6th.” An image to the left depicts a man and a woman working in a munition factory, standing together on a piece of equipment or machinery. They wear similar outfits, are of similar height, and doing the same work together.

In this poster, US GEN 0236, the movement toward suffrage is depicted in an ephemeral, almost otherworldly, light. With “woman” and “suffrage” in vertical letters on the left and right sides, the center text reads, “give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates.” Like the Ten Commandments of Womanhood poster, this poster links a woman’s societal role to religion. The woman in the poster emerges from the earth with her hands outstretched above her as an allegorical image of the Tree of Knowledge where she bears ripe fruit. The building behind her is identified by the finding aid to be the Buffalo History Museum as it looked during the 1901 Pan-American Exposition as the New York State building. 

Further Resources

The finding aid of the New York State Library, World War I Posters Collection (SC23360), is available online.

View the complete list of United States General Posters (US GEN) at the New York State Library, available online.

View more digitized posters at the New York State Library online through the Digital Collections.

View the World War I Poster Collection in-person by contacting Manuscripts and Special Collections. 

Finger play. Kinetic movement. Artistic exploration. Socializing with peers. Singing and instrument use. Call and response. Purposeful play. These elements, combined with a welcoming, affirming environment, are what draw thousands of children and caregivers to Story Time at public libraries every day. 

This message was shared by Lauren Moore, Assistant Commissioner for Libraries and State Librarian, during the NYS Education Department’s Early Learning Institute on Thursday, August 7. Ms. Moore led participants in a reflective exercise, remembering childhood reading experiences – whether being read to, reading with or to someone, or reading alone – and how they formed core memories. Participants shared recollections of their warmest library and personal reading memories. 

“When we remember shared reading experiences with loved ones or friends, we create shared narratives,” said Ms. Moore. “These exchanges help us prepare for and navigate a complex world as we learn to ask questions and connect to and revel in the power of story.” 

As collaborative, dynamic spaces designed to spark curiosity and creativity, public libraries are many children’s first foray into organized reading activity, where playful learning takes place in a literature-rich environment. It builds the connection between literacy and community, sparks curiosity in revealing the power and pleasure of reading, and the delightful journey of lifelong learning. 

To learn more about the connection between early literacy and public libraries, visit the NYS Library Early Learning Brief (PDF).

The programs and services offered by the New York State Library are made possible by federal Library Service and Technology Act funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. These funds enable the Library to champion lifelong learning; demonstrate excellence in public services to and through New York’s library systems and libraries; strengthen community engagement and promote social well-being; and advance collections stewardship and access.