Name/TitleColour print

About this objectThis Macmillan Educational Print was used at Heath School, Kesgrave, Ipswich. It is a view of black Jamaican men and women cutting cane in a field. There is a woman in the foreground with a small child holding cane. There is a row of jars of sweets and sugar in bowls in the border under the picture. There is a printed inscription on the bottom.

Richard Hall, Research Volunteer:
A series of educational posters, from a larger collection, depicting agricultural and rural scenes of food production and harvesting from across the globe.

The company who produced the posters are known as Macmillan Education Ltd. The company was founded in London in 1843 and have grown to become one of the world’s largest suppliers of educational materials. According to the company’s website, the company was founded by brother’s Daniel and Alexander Macmillan with an aim of publishing the works of British writers, including; Tennyson, Hardy and Kipling.

Returning home following the First World War, Harold Macmillan (later to become a Conservative British Prime Minister) joined the family firm in 1920 as a Junior Partner, and became Chairman in 1964. His direction led the company to establish themselves as a world leading educational publisher. It was during this time that the posters in our collection were produced.

The images in our posters could be seen as representing an ‘idealised’ view of the world; neglecting as they do, some of the conditions in which the people in the posters were working at the time. This can offer us a glimpse into the world of our colonial past.

You could also argue that these images promote gender stereotyping depicting the differing roles expected of men and women in the production of food. However, it is important not to lose sight of the period in which these posters were produced, judging them contemporaneously with everyday life at the time, rather than the way we might think today.

What we can learn from these posters is about how the world of food production has changed by the introduction of technology into farming and agriculture. Many of the tasks seen here, such as ploughing, milling and milking, required significant labour to complete. The same tasks today, thanks to modern technology, can be completed more efficiently and with less human effort than these images portray.

Date Made1940 - 1960

Medium and MaterialsPaper.

Inscription and MarksThe inscription printed on the bottom reads: 14. CUTTING SUGAR CANES IN JAMAICA.

MeasurementsLength: 360 mm
Width: 347 mm
b: 356 mm

Object Typeprint

Object numberSTMEA:1989-4.3

Copyright LicenceAttribution - Non-commercial (cc)