After months of research and tedious scanning, the Humboldt & District Museum and Gallery has compiled news relics from World War I (WWI) into one exhibit.
"We really felt that the commemoration of the beginning of WWI was a pivotal part of Humboldt history," said Jennifer Hoesgen, the museum's curator. "(These articles) make up the story of how it unfolded."
The exhibit itself uses articles and images from print media and spreads over two walls in the front portion of the museum. Starting at the left, it begins by telling the story of the first volunteers in the war effort who were from Humboldt. As you walk to the right, you can see old ads favouring the war efforts, letters from the front lines that were printed in the Humboldt Journal at the time, major headlines, and information about Humboldt's cenotaph.
"They are talking of conscription here, but I don't know if it will come to that," said one of the published letters in the exhibit. "One of my best pals was shot through the head yesterday, and it happened in such a simple way, too. He was getting into firing position, and had just put his head up above the trench, when he was shot through the head and fell back dead with a smile on his face."
In preparation for the exhibit, Brenda Duerr, Jean Price, and Haylee Johnson worked diligently throughout the summer with the Humboldt Legion Hall to make sure everything was accurate and accounted for. They spent many hours digging through old Humboldt Journal issues looking for WWI articles.
"We wanted to pull Humboldt into WWI and show that we participated," said Duerr, the museum's supervisor. "What really kicked it off was the photo of the volunteers and the publication of The First World War As I Saw It."
The book was written by Percy Leland Kingsley, but was published by his granddaughter, Patricia Anne Thomas.
The exhibit will be up until the beginning of December and all residents of the community are invited to come and share their own WWI stories and have it added to the exhibit.
