Discover Puerto Rico

This 1940 tourism poster created by artist Frank S. Nicholson for the NYC WPA Federal Art Project promotes Puerto Rico with the evocative slogan "Discover Puerto Rico U.S.A. Where the Americas Meet," emphasizing the island's strategic geographic position as a cultural and commercial crossroads. Stamped July 19, 1940, and produced as a silkscreen color print, the poster depicts either a tropical park with palm trees or a harbor view from El Morro fortress, depending on the version. Puerto Rico had been a U.S. territory since 1898 following the Spanish-American War, and by 1940 its status had evolved from colonial possession to incorporated territory whose residents held American citizenship but lacked voting representation in Congress.

The poster's integration into domestic tourism campaigns reflects complex dynamics of American territorial expansion and cultural assimilation. By promoting Puerto Rico as an American destination rather than a foreign colony, the WPA normalized the island's territorial status while encouraging economic development through tourism that would bind Puerto Rico more closely to the mainland economy. The slogan "where the Americas meet" strategically positioned the island as a bridge between Anglo-American and Latin American cultures, appealing to tourists' desires for exotic experiences while assuring them they remained within U.S. jurisdiction. This poster documents a pivotal moment in Puerto Rico's relationship with the United States, when New Deal programs extended to the territories and American identity was being redefined to encompass Caribbean possessions. The WPA's employment of artists to promote Puerto Rican tourism exemplified how Depression-era programs simultaneously created jobs, stimulated economic development, and projected American power through cultural production that naturalized territorial expansion as benign commercial opportunity.