Allen Saalburg (1899–1987) designed both covers and posters. His image of the battle-scarred flag, designed for the U.S. Office of War Information, was one of the first posters that agency produced after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

His painting of the flag draped across a view of Mount Vernon, featured on the July 1942 House & Garden cover, was so popular that the magazine issued a separate print suitable for framing that was distributed with the August issue. Saalburg’s original watercolor was donated to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association by House & Garden publisher Condé Nast in December 1942.