Ben Smidt

U.S. soldiers fighting in wars can be fathers, mothers, daughters, sons or, even, UW-Eau Claire students.

During October, the McIntyre Library is featuring an exhibit that looks at the country’s war history and how it has affected Wisconsin, specifically Eau Claire.

“It really makes you appreciate the soldiers who go into battle for their country,” freshman Jennifer Blank said. “To learn that some of those soldiers were professors and students at Eau Claire is really interesting.”

Libraries in the state have been putting up various kinds of exhibits displaying America’s history of war.

The university’s exhibit, “Our Campus During Wartime, 1916-1991,” was put together by Heather Muir, university archivist and head of special collections, and her staff. Each staff member took a war era and set up a display on it. Muir said she felt this would be a good way to talk about the various wars without just laying out the facts.

“I wanted to take the bigger picture of war and bring it down to campus level,” Muir said. “I wanted students to see the display and have their own opinions from it, not tell them what it was like and how it was done.”

Muir created the idea to show students how the wars had an effect on students and staff at the university.

“(The idea) came to me from a picture we have hanging up in the archives room,” Muir said. “It’s a picture of Arthur Olson, who was the first and only person to be killed in World War I from our campus. It gave me inspiration to keep people at our campus interested and informed of how many people from our campus were involved in these wars.”

The exhibit celebrates Archives Week in Wisconsin and is part of this year’s theme, “Wisconsin in Wartime.” The exhibit will be on display for the entire month and can be seen during library hours.

While Muir and her staff worked on setting up the exhibit they came across stories of people from Eau Claire who served in combat.

Muir’s staff found one of those stories in a 1918 yearbook. After looking at the yearbook more carefully, it was apparent the book was a significant contribution to the display.

“It was the yearbook of Lt. George Simpson,” Muir said.

Simpson was a part of the original faculty in 1916. The book had been signed by faculty members, including former university President Schofield, and some of Simpson’s students. The yearbook was sent to him while he was fighting in World War I, Muir said.

Messages in the yearbook range from “We miss you and are thinking about you” to “How many Germans have you laid to rest George? Kill one for me, will you?”

The yearbook is just one piece of memorabilia that can be viewed in the display. Others include articles from The Spectator written during wars, different books written in remembrance of the wars and a few of the names and pictures of those from the campus who fought.

Rita Sorkness, a special collections employee, said she tried to show the effect war had on the campus through the display.

Chronologically, Sorkness said, she wanted the display to follow the wars as they broke out, the first reactions of the students as the war came to an end and how the war affected the campus itself.

“I used a lot of articles from The Spectator to show the students and faculty’s reactions and I also used some advertisements to show how the rest of the world was reacting,” she said.

“I thought it was really cool to see how these wars had an effect on our campus,” freshman Celeste Potvin said. “The display is very well done and interesting to look at.”

In honor of Archives Week in Wisconsin, Sunday to Oct. 26, the library will feature two visual materials archivists, David Benjamin and Matthew Mason of the Wisconsin Historical Society, giving a presentation Oct. 22 on the theme “Wisconsin in Wartime.”

Through images, they will discuss how the people of Wisconsin experienced different wars, from the earliest one to the present day.

“It should be a very interesting presentation,” Muir said.

Sorkness said she hopes the display brings out a perspective to students about the events that happened.

“I am constantly walking by the display,” she said, “and I like noticing students looking at it and taking interest.”