- Brief Narrative
- Metal fundraising collection can used by the Children’s Crusade for Children. The Children’s Crusade for Children was a penny sharing relief program with the purpose of providing assistance to the war stricken children of Europe. The program was organized during the winter of 1939-1940 under the leadership of Marion G. Canby and Dorothy Canfield Fisher. The program was supported by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and special tin collection cans were decorated with artwork designed by Norman Rockwell and distributed to schools around the country. The children were instructed to give as many pennies as they were years old. The principal or a delegated student would then retrieve the money from the can and mail it to a collection center in Kansas or Vermont, depending on the school’s location. The crusade had two purposes: to make American children aware of the blessings of living in a democratic country, and to give these children an opportunity to express their sympathy for the plight of war-stricken children in other lands. The nationwide collection ran from April 23 to April 30 1940.
- Date
-
use:
1940 April 23-1940 April 30
- Geography
-
use:
United States
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection. The acquisition of this collection was made possible by the Crown Family.
- Markings
- front, top, printed, white ink : CHILDREN’S CRUSADE / FOR CHILDREN
front, bottom, printed, black ink : April 22-30, 1940
right side panel, printed, red and black ink : DIRECTIONS: / MONEY COLLECTED IS TO BE TAKEN / TO YOUR BANK BY YOUR PRINCIPAL / OR HIS REPRESENTATIVE AND BY A / GUARD OF HONOR SELECTED FROM / THE STUDENTS IN YOUR SCHOOL. / Money in this Crusade-can, col- / lected in schools west of the Mississippi should be forwarded / to: CHILDREN’S CRUSADE FOR CHILDREN, CITIZENS NATION- / AL BANK, EMPORIA, KANSAS. / If your school is east of the / Mississippi, money in this can is / to be forwarded to CHILDREN’S CRUSADE FOR CHILDREN, / COUNTY NATIONAL BANK, BENNINTON, VERMONT. / These two banks will then turn over the / money to the Jury of Award consisting / of: ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, DOROTHY / CANFIELD FISHER, MONSIGNOR JOHN / A. RYAN, WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE, / DR. CHARLES B. GLENN, HON. IRVING / LEHMAN, CAROLINE S. WOODRUFF.
right side panel, bottom, printed black ink : This can donated by / The Producers of Tin Plate and / The Can Manufacturers Institute
left side panel, printed black and red ink : IN GRATITUDE FOR / THE LAND WE LIVE IN— / GIVE AS MANY / PENNIES AS YOU / ARE YEARS OLD / —or anything down to a cent / FOR HUNGRY AND / HOMELESS WAR- / STRICKEN CHILDREN / IN OTHER LANDS
right side panel, bottom, printed, black ink : Children’s Crusade for Children / General Headquarters: Empire State Bldg., N.Y.C.
- Signature
- front, bottom right, printed, red ink : Norman / Rockwell
- Contributor
-
Distributor:
Children's Crusade for Children
Artist:
Norman Rockwell
- Biography
-
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) was born in New York City, New York. He studied art at The New York School of Art, The National Academy of Design and The Art Students League. While still a teenager, he was hired as art director of Boys’ Life, the official publication of the Boy Scouts of America, and began a freelance career illustrating a variety of young people’s publications. Throughout his career Rockwell created covers for The Saturday Evening Post. In 1930, he married Mary Barstow, a schoolteacher, and they had three sons. In 1939, Rockwell and his family moved to Arlington, Vermont. In 1943, he painted the Four Freedoms, a series of four paintings based on a speech by President Franklin Roosevelt. The paintings toured the United States in a traveling exhibition and through the sale of war bonds, raised over $130 million for the war effort.
