FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT: Chris Powell | chris.powell@sos.arkansas.gov | (501) 683-0057
New Exhibit at the Arkansas State Capitol Focuses on World War I
War, Collections, Memory:
The Great War in the Arkansas State Archives
(LITTLE ROCK, ARK.) – When, in 1917, the United
States entered the world war, Arkansans in all walks of life stepped
forward. Over 70,000 Arkansans, black
and white, served in uniform. By war’s end, nearly 4,000 had died or were
seriously wounded.
Within
months after the Armistice, the World War became the stuff of memories; the
Arkansas History Commission (today’s Arkansas State Archives) partnered with Louis
C. Gulley, an enthusiastic battlefield collector, to assemble a significant array of
artifacts, memorabilia, documents and curiosa related to the war. This trove,
augmented by government documents, personal papers and other artifacts, remains
one of the Archives’s largest and richest collections.
For
many years, items from the Gulley collection were displayed in the Arkansas Capitol
as the “Museum of the World War.” This
spring, the Great War returns to the Capitol: “War, Collections, Memory” features significant and memorable artifacts,
photographs and documents from the State Archives related to “the war to end
war.” The exhibit is not a comprehensive
history of Arkansans in the war; instead, it samples the materials collected
and preserved in order to preserve the stories of the conflict. These range from predictable battlefield
trophies such as bayonets and helmets, to fragments of buildings damaged by
shell fire and items sewed by Arkansas women for the American Red Cross. A bullet-riddled helmet, mess cup and iron
body armor attest to the dangers of facing modern small-arms fire, while
playing cards and a chess set improvised by German prisoners of war represent
soldiers’ attempts to set aside the horrors of the field, if only for a little
while. The home front is represented by
a box of bandages rolled by Arkansas women for use in field hospitals overseas,
and by identification photographs of resident German nationals who were
required to register as enemy aliens in 1917.
Nearly a century
has gone by since the cease-fire of November 11, 1918, but in the Arkansas
State Archives and, through August, the halls of the Capitol, the echoes of
that heartbreaking conflict remain.
“War, Collections, Memory: the Great War in the Arkansas State Archives”
will remain on display in the first floor galleries of the Arkansas Capitol
through August 2018.
Narrated by Capitol Historian, Dr. David Ware
Click for more photos
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