2018.15.2
Accompanying Lusitania Medal, British Issue, Box
Artist
Karl Goetz
(1875 - 1950)
Title
Accompanying Lusitania Medal, British Issue, Box
Creation Date
1916
Century
early 20th century
Object Type
box
Creation Place
Europe, Germany
Medium and Support
velveteen and ink on cardboard
Credit Line
Gift of Anne and Frank Goodyear
Copyright
Public Domain
Accession Number
2018.15.2
In April 1916, British Naval Intelligence received reports of the existence of a German medal satirizing the sinking of the Lusitania. A reproduction of the medal, pictured in a Dutch catalogue, was sent to the Foreign Office and later forwarded to the New York Tribune to be published on the May 7 anniversary of the Lusitania’s sinking. Ernst Maxse, a British minister stationed in Holland, obtained a physical copy of the medal shortly thereafter. Recognizing the medal’s propaganda potential, Captain Reginald Hall RN, Director of the Naval Intelligence, instructed the Wellington House (British War Propaganda Bureau) to produce 50,000 medals for distribution around the world. They sold for one shilling each, with proceeds from these government-produced medals donated to the Red Cross. Demand was so high that Wellington House later recruited department store magnate Gordon Selfridge to continue production and distribution of the medals until the end of the war. After the propaganda campaign’s success in Britain, America and Japan also dispersed their own reproductions of the Lusitania medals.
Additional Media
interior
inside
