The Works Projects Administration (WPA) was established in 1935 as a government program designed to employ millions of job-seekers for public works projects with a goal of alleviating the economic effects of the Great Depression. This financial strain was compounded by a decline in sanitation and hygiene. In response, a number of government programs were created to improve public health and encourage cleanliness and nutrition. Keep clean was designed by Erik Hans Krause in the late 1930s as one of more than 30,000 poster designs created by artists working under the Federal Art Project (FAP)a subset of the WPAto promote community activities, positive social values, and proactive approaches to health.

At the time, recent scientific advances in medicine revealed new information about how diseases spread and successful methods of prevention. Screenprinting was vital in disseminating this knowledge to ensure a safe and informed public. Today, as we live through a modern day pandemic, similar visual reminders have become commonplace, often with punchiness that parallels these original Bauhausian bulletins.