The Cayuga Museum in Auburn has announced they are seeking items for an exhibit on the year 1918.
Museum staff are seeking the loan of items that will help tell the stories of that time – photographs, military items related to WWI, industrial artifacts, clothing, family memorabilia, and more. This will be a multi-faceted exhibit that explores the full milieu of the year 1918 and the repercussions from that year that are still being felt today.
Examples of the types of items the museum is seeking include: WWI uniforms, letters and photographs; periodicals printed in 1918; artifacts from the booming factories of that year; and anything else that will help place that year in context for contemporary visitors.
One hundred years ago, WWI was raging in Europe. The flu pandemic, which would eventually kill more people than the war, was starting. In the U.S., several states had granted women the right to vote, but female suffrage was not yet universal. The Great Migration of black people from the Jim Crow south to the industrialized north had begun. The fight against child labor was being fought in Congress and state houses, and the automobile was beginning to change the country. In Auburn, factories were growing, new residential neighborhoods were being developed and immigrants were still arriving in large numbers.
1918: A Century Later will open in April and remain on display through the end of the year. All loaned items will be secured, covered by the Museum’s insurance, and returned at the end of the exhibit.
If you have anything you would like to contribute, call Eileen or Kirsten at the Museum, (315) 253-8051, or email at cayugamuseum@verizon.net.
The Cayuga Museum is located at 203 Genesee St, Auburn. For more information, visit their website.
Photo of Cayuga Museum.
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