The Great War reached Augusta County long before its native son, Woodrow Wilson, asked Congress to declare it. For years Shenandoah Valley farms had sold wheat to the Allied armies, the army’s remount depot at Front Royal had raised horses for the front, and Virginians had given to war relief efforts. After April 1917, training camps rose across the Commonwealth, Hampton Roads shipyards added thousands of workers, and Virginia doctors and nurses organized field hospitals abroad. In this illustrated talk, Dr. Lynn Rainville draws on the stories of Virginians who served abroad and at home, and on the dozens of memorials erected across the state to honor them. This work is summarized in her book, Virginia and the Great War: Mobilization, Supply and Combat, 1914-1919 (McFarland, 2018).
Lynn Rainville is an author, anthropologist, and public historian who studies ordinary Virginians who did extraordinary things. After earning a PhD in Near Eastern archaeology, she has spent twenty-five years studying Virginia’s overlooked past: historic cemeteries and gravestones, enslaved communities and their descendants, town poor farms, and Virginia’s role in World War I (the subject of her book, Virginia and the Great War). Her research has been supported by the NEH, the Mellon Foundation, and Virginia Humanities, and her work has been featured in national newspapers and on television and radio. Today she consults with museums, colleges, and historical societies through her consultancy, Hidden History Group.
As always, Society meetings are free and open to the public. A short business meeting will precede the program. Parking is available on Federal Street, Maple Street and 11th Street. You can also find parking beside and in front of the field house. There is additional handicapped parking beside the field house if needed.
Can’t attend the Fall Meeting in person? Please join us virtually!
https://zoom.us/j/95213411785 (Meeting ID 952 1341 1785)