Walking into the South Arkansas Community College Library patrons will temporarily be greeted by a collection of panels depicting the life of Arkansans during World War I.
The panels are a traveling exhibit from the Arkansas State Archives that has been brought to the area by the SouthArk library and Barton Public Library. The Great War: Arkansas in World War I exhibit tells the story about Arkansas’ role in the war both at home and on the battlefields.
“I am very pleased that the Barton and SouthArk libraries are sharing The Great War: Arkansas in World War I with their visitors and community,” Dr. Wendy Richter, director of the Arkansas State Archives, said in a release. “The exhibit, created to commemorate the centennial anniversary of America’s entry into World War I, powerfully memorializes the impact this first modern, global war had on the 65 million who were mobilized, including the 70,000 soldiers from Arkansas.”
The exhibit consists of 12 panels that show images from the Arkansas State Archives of documents, photographs, posters, maps and historical objects. The panels include topics ranging from the beginning of the war in 1914 and go along chronologically. Specific topics include training the troops, on the home front, the sick and wounded, and provided for the war.
It opened Thursday and will remain part of the lobby to the SouthArk Library until Wednesday. It is free to the public for people to come in and spend time reading the panels.
To go along with the panels, the Barton Library has set up a table of books that are focused on WWI to provide those interested in the topic with additional resources.
Philip Shackelford, director of library services at SouthArk, and Lacey Ferrell, technology coordinator at Barton Library, traveled to Little Rock last week to pick up the panels and set them up in the SouthArk library lobby.
”World War I is one of those conflicts that, compared to the Civil War or the Revolutionary War, people don’t really know much about,” Shackelford said. “So the hope is that people will take the opportunity to learn more about it. In particular about Arkansans’ involvement in it.”
Michael Shine may be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter and like him on Facebook @MichaelAZShine for updates on Union County school news.