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"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...." The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty

Our pictures of America sum up all that's great about the United States. They are a rich source of American posters, illustrations, cartoons and other images.

We Europeans have a love-hate relationship with America and Americans. We admire the economic dynamism of Wall Street yet complain when they acquire our industries. We stuff our faces with Big Macs but object to their ubiquity and (lack of) quality. We flock in our millions to see the latest Hollywood blockbuster (Sly Stallone in Get Carter? Please!) but worry about our own film industry (as an aside, there are few more revolting images than some multi-millionaire British film star complaining that the UK film industry should get even greater tax breaks - why should the tax payer pay his inflated fees? Take a pay cut. Make better films). We love the money American tourists bring, but sometimes find the people them- selves a little insensitive. We're grateful for the Marshall Plan that spurred the rebuilding of post-war Europe, but unhappy with the price (in liberalisation of markets and monetary policy) that carried; British debt to the US from World War II was only finally repaid in 2006, some 60 years after the event.

Of course, the British suffer from this schizophrenia more than most. ".... we really have everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language" - The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde (usually given as "We are two nations divided by a common language" and attributed to either G B Shaw or Winston Churchill). We really can't understand why the locals wanted out of the Empire back in the 1770s. I suppose that abhorrence of a little bit of tax is still a feature of American politics today. Our politicians still talk of the 'special relationship' between Britain and the USA but the less enthusiastic perceive it as one-sided and leading to doubts about British commitment to the European project - from de Gaulle to today. The Americans consider they baled the Limeys out of two World Wars (the Great War and World War II), but the Brits wonder why they turned up late for both of them. Even during WWII, American forces stationed in the UK were described as "overpaid, over-sexed and over here." And until the tragedy of 9/11 the US was the major funding source for Irish terrorist organisations.

The French offer the most striking resistance to the growing influence of American culture. They supported the Revolution and War of Independence (although how much that was genuine enthusiasm for the idea and how much was because it was against the British is moot). They donated the Statue of Liberty. Louisiana and New Orleans are clear representatives of French influence but later French attitudes changed. Post-war, although France maintained its membership of NATO, de Gaulle objected to US control of the organisation and started to remove its forces from NATO command in 1959 until in 1966 the withdrawal was complete and all non-French NATO forces were asked to leave France. The Académie Française works hard on the Sisyphean task of halting the penetration of English and the maintenance of the French language. José Bové protests against McDonald's, but France is a larger market for them than even the UK.

America's greatest cultural contribution is probably in music, and the French did take jazz and the blues, born in the Deep South, to their hearts. Rock 'n roll is probably more of an Anglo-Saxon taste. We shouldn't forget the influence of American architecture, especially the skyscrapers of Chicago and New York, on the art deco posters which form an important part of our collection. The stream- lined designs of American cars and trains were similarly influential. The Wild West still features in cinema, although now somewhat more realistically than in the past, and with a rather more sympathetic picture of, and admission of guilt over the treatment of Native Americans.

American sports present a problem for we Europeans. American football, baseball and basketball are minority sports outside the States (World Series, anybody?), while other sports which are popular elsewhere have little penetration in North America. Golf and horse racing are probably the greatest exceptions with ice hockey behind. Mind you soccer (or football as we call it) prospered with the 1994 World Cup held on home turf and the improved form of Team USA, and perhaps its popularity will grow further when D Beckham Esq. moves to The LA Galaxy (although we remember the transient success of the game when Pelé, Best, Beckenbauer et al played in the States in the late 1970s - when they moved on it all collapsed).

The USA at least takes part in the Rugby World Cup although is unlikely ever to win it. By all accounts the States is a great place to play rugby, or so Lord Price and the mad Welshman maintain - they had a great time in Boston. Perhaps it's because Americans decided not to remain in the Empire that they will never appreciate or even understand cricket, although in the 1880's Philadelphia was as important a cricketing centre as Australia!