Seeing World War II through posters is an educational time line about history.

John Wright, owner of Wright’s Jewelry, 124 E. Lincoln Highway, decided to put together a gallery of his WWII posters at the Nehring Center Gallery in DeKalb.

“It’s a full-time hobby and I display a lot of the posters in my store,” Wright said. “I bought my first poster in 1970.”

Wright was a history major at NIU. His favorite pieces in his collection are the propaganda and the women posters.

Gallery Director Yasemin Kackar, who received her master’s degree from NIU, sat down with Wright and searched through his collection, which exceeds 300 posters.

Kackar and Wright picked out the pieces they thought would be most effective and split them into five gallery categories: propaganda, women, security, agriculture and production.

Kackar put the gallery together by herself and wrote a biography on Wright so viewers would know why he began his collection.

“You can learn from the significance of the posters during the wartime,” Kackar said of the chosen posters.

“I think there are a lot of people who are starting to look at WWII and are getting interested in the history,” Wright said. “I think the posters help make a connection.” Some artists that were featured were Peter Helck, Wesley Heyman, Thomas Hart Benton and Ben Shahn. Each poster has a description and information for the viewer’s benefit.

Wright’s poster by Shahn is called “Welders.” It is his favorite and cost $10,000.

“Most are very rare posters that you can’t find anymore and you can see the history in them,” Kackar said.

Some of the posters shown, such as the women campaign ads with the heading “We Can Do It” are popular in society today.

Shirley Nehring, who used to own the gallery space, remembered some of the posters.”

“I enjoy looking at the posters; they bring back memories,” Nehring said.

Kackar hopes to continue the series and make the show an annual.

Wright’s posters are sentimental images which show the dramatic effect the war had on our country.

“World War II Poster Exhibit,” is held at the Nehring Center Gallery, 164 E. Lincoln Highway.

Wright’s exhibit can be seen from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays; 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays and 3 to 5 p.m. Sundays. It runs through Nov. 24.