Ļć½¶Ö±²„Libraries, veterans to honor soldiers with historical letter presentation
Contact: Anna Owens
STARKVILLE, Miss.āĻć½¶Ö±²„ Libraries will commemorate Veterans Day with a reading of soldiersā correspondence from World War I and II.
Free and open to all, āThrough the Lines: Letters from Home and the Front, 1917-1945ā takes place Nov. 11 from 3 to 5 p.m. in the John Grisham Room on the third floor of Mitchell Memorial Library.
Read by current veterans and volunteers from MSUās G.V. āSonnyā Montgomery Center for Americaās Veterans, selected correspondence includes material from the Earl Southworth Williford Collection and the Lt. Col. Rollins Armstrong Collection, among others.
Carrie Mastley, assistant professor of manuscripts at MSU, said the event is an opportunity for the public to glimpse soldiersā daily lives and that many of the letters shared a common themeāmissing family and home-cooked meals.
āA lot of the soldiers didnāt talk about the action because letters were heavily censored,ā Mastley said. āThere was one letter from a man recovering in a hospital who compared the food there to his motherās, and wrote about how much he missed good, Southern, Mississippi cooking. It really shows what was in the forefront of veteransā minds while they were away.āĀ
Jennifer McGillan, assistant professor of libraries at MSU, said the materials are valuable library donations used for educational purposes beyond this event.
āThe collections help support multiple undergraduate projects and professorial avenues of inquiry,ā McGillan said. āPeople ask, āAre you sure you want these dusty papers?,ā and the answer is always yes.ā
McGillan and Mastley curated the materials for the events, and Ļć½¶Ö±²„Librariesā Manuscripts Division of Special Collections holds all featured collections and papers. Special Collections viewing hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, visit .
Special Collections is actively seeking donations of historical items and hopes to represent all conflicts with U.S. involvement, in particular the Korean and Vietnam wars. Items belonging to female veterans and veterans of color are also of interest in order to create a realistic representation of those who served.
MSUās G.V. āSonnyā Montgomery Center for Americaās Veterans provides resources and scholarships for student veterans, as well as service members and their dependents. For more, visit .
Veterans Day originated as Armistice Day after World War I, which came to a close after the AlliesāBritain, France, Italy, Russia and the United Statesāproposed the end of hostilities against Germany and the Central Powers on Nov. 11, 1918.
First commemorated under President Woodrow Wilson, the holiday originally honored the service of World War I veterans. The modern conception of Veterans Day began in 1954 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who called for a celebration of all veterans regardless of the conflict in which they served, and passed a bill that gave the event its current name.
For more information about āThrough the Linesā or to inquire about a potential donation to Special Collections, contact McGillan at jmcgillan@library.msstate.edu or Mastley at cmastley@library.msstate.edu.
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