A rare offering for a folk art - style World War I embroidered flour sack. The cloth sack decorated in Belgium, and dedicated to Crawford County, Kansas and Pittsburg, Kansas, is embroidered with bright colorful threads. The front and back of the sack bears a sewn ribbon with the colors of Belgium. The back side is also decorated with an armorial crest; a swan surmounting a crown over bells and Les Belges Reconnaissants. The intact sack measures 24.5" x 17".
HISTORY NOTE: The Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB) was established in 1914 under the direction of Herbert Hoover (later president of the United States) to provide relief to Belgium and occupied France between 1914-1918. The CRB shipped flour packaged in cotton bags by American mills. The empty flour sacks were distributed and repurposed, and provided work for thousands of unemployed. The modified flour sacks were distributed to organizations in Belgium, England and the United States, and then sold to raise funds for food relief and to aid prisoners of war. The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Museum has one of the largest collections of World War I flour sacks in the world. Kansas was one of the most active states responding to the CRB's pleas. Noting the bumper wheat crop of 1914, former Kansas Governor Walter Stubbs rallied Kansans with the slogan, "Kansas, the greatest beneficiary of the war, to Belgium, the greatest sufferer of the war".