Gorgas Library is housing a new art exhibit, Glimpses of the Great War, in honor of the war’s 100th anniversary. The exhibit is located in the Pearce Foyer on the second floor of the library, just inside the Quad entrance.
“There are over 70 items and nine books featured in the cases,” said Martha Bace, processing archivist of the Hoole Special Collection Library. “Items featured in the exhibit include two uniform tunics, pants, boots, campaign hat, helmet, trench coat, mess kit and canteen, bayonet, letters and photographs.”
Bace co-curated the exhibit with Patrick Adcock. to commemorate the 100th anniversary of ?World War I.
“It was upon receiving two donations of military uniforms and artifacts that we decided to curate an exhibit to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I,” Bace said. “We pulled materials – uniforms, paraphernalia, letters, photographs, maps, sheet music and books – from approximately 30 collections before narrowing it down to about 20 collections.”
Putting the exhibit together was a long and strenuous process, Adcock said.
Many of the pieces in the exhibit have long histories that relate to each other, including a United States Service Flag and a War Department telegram.
“The flag hanging in a window told passersby that a member of that family was serving in the armed forces. If the soldier was killed or died, the blue star was changed to a gold star,” Bace said. “In that same case is the War Department telegram. It was sent on Nov. 18, 1918 – seven days after the Armistice was signed, stating that Lieutenant George Waring Huston was killed in action on Oct. 16.”
Donna Adcock, the director of public relations for Gorgas Library, said the exhibit seeks to make the world wars more tangible and real to its visitors,
“The exhibit helps to bring the war alive with images of the servicemen who fought, the uniforms they wore and the letters they sent to their family members back home,” she said. “The exhibit invites you into their lives and makes the war more personal. It is one thing to see a uniform on the movie or television screen, but it’s another to see it in person and know that someone wore the actual uniform you are looking at.”
Students at the University along with faculty members and visitors can see other historical artifacts as more exhibits are opened by Gorgas Library.
“The libraries are grateful to the families that donated the artifacts. Generations of students to come will have the opportunity to learn from their family treasures,” Donna Adcock said.
The exhibit will be housed at Gorgas Library through Sept. 15.
