# An Urgent Plea to Tenants, approved by the War Production Board and paid for by industry

An Urgent Plea to Tenants, from the Salvage Division of the War Production Board and catalogued at 1941, asks apartment dwellers not to throw waste paper down the incinerator, lists military uses for it, and pictures nine items to save. Its footer reads "Approved by War Production Board. Paid for by industry" (NAID 513847).

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      An Urgent Plea to Tenants

      An Urgent Plea to Tenants, approved by the War Production Board and paid for by industry
      A War Production Board sheet asks apartment tenants to save waste paper, cans, rags and fats. Footer: "Approved by War Production Board. Paid for by

## Techniques named on the archive record

Card stackingGlittering generalities
      Date1941Made byWar Production Board, Salvage DivisionMediumPosterCountryUnited StatesRegimeRoosevelt AdministrationNARANAID 513847; Record Group 44SourceIdentified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they areSourceU.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters , retrieved October 4, 2026SourcePublic domain (U.S. government work) War Production Board, Salvage Division. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-396 (NAID 513847).
      Object, image, and catalog record from the FRAME archive. Text on this page is CC BY 4.0. Image rights are as the archive records.

      Full record at propagandaarchive.org

  An Urgent Plea to Tenants, from the Salvage Division of the War Production Board and catalogued at 1941, asks apartment dwellers not to throw waste paper down the incinerator, lists military uses for it, and pictures nine items to save. Its footer reads "Approved by War Production Board. Paid for by industry" (NAID 513847).

## The sheet asks tenants to keep paper out of the incinerator

The sheet is red, mostly text, with small pictures of nine things to save, from bags and boxes to rags, tin cans and fats. The archive describes its readers as apartment tenants.

FROM THE SALVAGE DIVISION OF THE WAR PRODUCTION BOARD

AN URGENT PLEA TO TENANTS:

There is a Critical Shortage of Waste Paper - More Critical than at any time since the War began! Waste Paper is a vital "Weapon of War". Bomb Bands, Shell Containers, Aircraft Signals, Ammunition Chests, Parachute Flares, Overseas Containers and other Military needs are made in part from converted Waste Paper. Don't destroy it! Don't throw it down the incinerator. Save it!

URGENTLY NEEDED FOR WAR PRODUCTION: [...] AND DON'T FORGET FATS AND GREASES

APPROVED BY WAR PRODUCTION BOARD. PAID FOR BY INDUSTRY.

Transcription in the FRAME record, read from the image and not independently checked; the item list is cut. Full record at propagandaarchive.org. NAID 513847, local id 44-PA-396, Record Group 44.

## The footer says who approved it and who paid

The most useful line is the last one: "Approved by War Production Board. Paid for by industry." A tenant can weigh a plea differently once he knows who stands behind it, and this one tells him that a federal board approved the message and private industry covered the cost. The sheet does not say which companies paid, and the FRAME record does not name them either.

## The claims are a list of uses, not a set of figures

The archive tags card stacking for the chosen list of military uses and glittering generalities for the "Weapon of War" label. The sheet gives no tonnage and no shortage figure. It names six products, says they are made "in part" from waste paper, and asks the reader to act. The request is voluntary: "Don't destroy it! Don't throw it down the incinerator. Save it!"

Later paper appeals on this site: Save Waste Paper, the 1944 four-step sorting poster, and Declare a Paper Holiday, from 1945.

## Sources

- FRAME object record, An Urgent Plea to Tenants, 1941. War Production Board, Salvage Division. Rights as recorded: public domain (U.S. government work).

- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, 44-PA-396, NAID 513847, retrieved by the archive 4 October 2026.

Canonical: https://americanpropaganda.org/collection/urgent-plea-to-tenants-1941/