UW News

November 9, 2016

UW Libraries to hold Veterans Day open house for WWI-themed exhibit

UW News

"Washington on the Western Front: At Home and Over There" will be on display at Allen Library through Jan. 31, 2017.

“Washington on the Western Front: At Home and Over There” will be on display at Allen Library through Jan. 31, 2017.

UW Libraries will host an open house from 1 to 5 p.m. on Veterans Day, Friday, Nov. 11, in conjunction with the current World War I-themed exhibit, “Washington on the Western Front: At Home and Over There.”

The exhibit features photographs, diaries, newspapers, letters and ephemera from the World War I era. Notes with the exhibit discuss how the UW responded to the war with the formation of a hospital, ambulance unit and training camp. About 4,000 students, staff, faculty and alumni served, 58 of whom lost their lives in what was at the time called “The War to End All Wars.”

The Armistice Day (Veterans Day) open house will open with a color guard from Ballard Eagleson VFW Post 3063. Guided walks of the exhibit will be offered, as well as documentary films about the influenza epidemic of 1918 and the creation of American cemeteries in France.

The exhibit was curated by Lisa Oberg, head of public services for UW Libraries Special Collections, who also directs the public’s attention to the two obelisks at the north entrance to campus bearing the names of the 58 who gave their lives.

November 11, is Veterans Day, a national holiday — but Suzzallo and Allen libraries will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The exhibit will be on display through Jan. 31, 2017.

###

For more information on the exhibit and event, contact Oberg at 206-543-7492 or lisanne@uw.edu

 

Tag(s):