In Focus: WWI History Exhibit Comes To Clearwater County

Last year marked the 100th anniversary of when the United States sent troops overseas to fight in World War I. The Clearwater County Historical Society in Shevlin just added a new section to their military room so people can learn more about that time.

“This exhibit is from the Smithsonian Institute. It’s a program they call “SITE”, which is Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibits, and it was free of charge,” says Tamara Edevold, the executive director of the Clearwater County Historical Society.

The society’s military room is only steps away from the main building. The posters are near the center of the exhibit.

“We have all of our artifacts from the Civil War, the Spanish American war, all the way through to Desert Storm. In addition to the artifacts, we’ve collected a number of stories of soldiers from our county and so those are on display as well,” says Edevold.

The posters are perfect for history buffs. Each one is detailed and comes with easy to read captions.

“Each one has a particular topic – anything from how to sell the war to women in the war to medicine. The overarching question is, ‘How was America shaped by the legacy of World War I?'” says Edevold.

It’s a lot of fun to look at the pictures and get a general idea of what was going on, but if you crouch down lower each poster comes with fact sheet with more details and a quiz to see if you retained the information.

Edevold says, “They also send along learning guides and ways to use the exhibit posters. So it was really kind of something exciting and it fits in with our upcoming World War I exhibit, so we’re kind of starting with this poster exhibit and then we’ll expand on it with our own local exhibit.”

If you want to see it in person, you have tons of time to plan a trip.

“We’ll have this exhibit up until November when Armistice Day was the 11th hour of the 11th month, and so we’ll end our WWI exhibit in November,” says Edevold.

And if you know of someone with an interesting military connection, the Clearwater Society wants to hear your story.

“If a person comes in and has story to share, we would like to talk with them and get some pictures and things from them. And this is a permanent exhibit. Our military exhibit is up all the time,” says Edevold.

The Clearwater Society Gallery is open from 10 to 4 Tuesdays through Fridays. They will also be open this weekend only for January – the hours for this weekend are 10 to 2 for Saturday and 1 to 4 for Sunday. If you want to see the military exhibit, simply ask for a tour. Admission is free.