Designed not only to honor the brave but to memorialize the fallen, the Center for American War Letters Archives preserves the narratives of families, loved ones, and heroes. This year, the Archives has the honor of commemorating one of the most heroic, and also most tragic, events in world history.
The exhibit is called The World Remembers: Honoring Victory and Loss at the End of the First World War. Located in the basement of the Leatherby Libraries, the Archives reading room has been transformed to display correspondence agonizing over the conflict, shouting in triumph, and ultimately thanking God for world peace. Also included are tangible wartime materials such as helmets, a saber, a mortar shell, and other fascinating materials brought home by brave servicemen who fought overseas.
The World Remembers
Highlighted in the exhibit is an international digital display called “The World Remembers.” The display, which Chapman University is the only institution in California to run out of hundreds around the world, lists the names of over one million military personnel from sixteen nations who lost their lives between 1918-1922. The display runs for sixty-one days, showing 16,455 names each day, and culminates on Armistice Day, November 11 . This is a truly remarkable way to honor and memorialize the fallen heroes a hundred years later, letting them know posthumously that the world remembers.
To complement this momentous occasion of the centennial, the Archives will be hosting major events this semester. Author Andrew Huebner will be coming from the University of Alabama to discuss his latest book, Love and Death in the Great War on October 18. On November 10, the Musco Center will host a production created in collaboration with the theater department’s John Benitz and the founding director of the war letters project, Andrew Carroll, called If All the Sky Were Paper.
Please come and enjoy the exhibit, meet Professor Huebner and get your copy of his book signed, and be moved by the dramatic telling of soldiers’ stories at the Musco Center. Join the Chapman community in honoring those who fought and fell a century ago.