This month’s cover features a silksreen poster by graphic designer Lester Beall, commissioned in 1937 by the Rural Electrification Administration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to communicate the benefits of electricity to citizens in outlying areas of the country. The poster is an early example of American graphic design applied to public service.

The poster is part of the Cary Graphic Arts Collection at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), one of the world’s premier libraries on graphic communication history and practices. The growing library holds more than 45,000 volumes and over 130 archival collections. Learn more at www.rit.edu/carycollection/.

Image credit: Lester Beall, Light, 1937, U.S. Rural Electrification Administration, RIT Cary Graphic Design Archives, Lester Beall papers.