New exhibit in the LC features artifacts from the Great War!

Professor Ed Klekowski's exhibit of WWI artifacts recently found in France is now on display in the Learning Commons of the Du Bois Library at UMass Amherst.

The exhibit includes artifacts found in the St. Mihiel Salient and the Argonne in France, where the forests are still littered with relics from the war years. It is illegal to dig for artifacts in France, but they can be collected if on the surface, as these were.

The artifacts range from a canteen to bullets, shells, and a sword bayonet, among other items. Professor Klekowski uses the artifacts to help tell the stories of two films he has in production - Yankees Fight the Kaiser and Model T's to Glory: 1914-1917. Both films have strong New England stories, based primarily on Massachusetts connections.