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An exhibit examining the effect of World War I on the University of South Carolina and the wartime contributions of its faculty, students, and alumni is on display at the South Caroliniana Library from April 6 through December 20, 2007.
"The Great Adventure: The University of South Carolina in World War I" is free and open to the public.
Since its founding in 1801, the University has served as the state's flagship institution, sending generations of its alumni into positions of economic, social, political, and military leadership. The demands of the first World War forced changes on the University--some of them permanent--and pulled from its community leaders on the front lines and on the home front, including a Medal of Honor recipient and a future governor.
The tumult of World War I struck the University just when it was developing into a modern university.
"The students of Carolina looked upon the war as a great adventure full of glory and honor. They filled campus publications with artwork, poetry, and fiction that illustrated their romanticized view of war," said Elizabeth West, University archivist and curator of the exhibit. "However, President William S. Currell and the Board of Trustees feared a mass exodus of students that would shut down the University, which is what happened during the Civil War."
Once America did go to war in April of 1917, Currell and the trustees put aside their fears for Carolina's survival and fully supported their country's war efforts, even though they were, at times, detrimental to the University's operations.
"The Great Adventure" is on display in the lobby of the South Caroliniana Library, located on the historic Horseshoe. Library hours are 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; 8:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday; and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday.
The exhibit is part of a multiple institution project titled "Forward Together: South Carolina in World War I." Funded in part by a grant from the Partnership for a Nation of Learners, the project commemorates the ninetieth anniversary of the United States' entry into the Great War, and uses exhibitions, public lectures, a documentary, and living history performances to examine the involvement of the Palmetto State in "the war to end all wars." The project partnership consists of the South Caroliniana Library, McKissick Museum, the South Carolina State Museum, the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, the Historic Columbia Foundation, and South Carolina Educational Television.
West serves as project co-director with Fritz Hamer of the State Museum. "This is a first of its kind partnership among these city and state institutions," West said. "This kind of collaboration provides an incredible opportunity to deeply explore an often overlooked period of history that had profound and lasting local, national, and international impact."
A full schedule of "Forward Together" events is available at www.scforwardtogether.org.
For more information, contact West at 7-5158 or uscarchives@sc.edu.
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