The Liberty Memorial in Kansas City is the only museum
in the U.S. dedicated solely to World War I. Featuring the coolest exhibits and
interactive displays that carries you through. The museum appeals to the biggest history
buffs and those who find discomfort with conflicts and hard-to-remember
time lines (like me). I have always had a fascination with living history and first-hand
accounts that told individual stories ...feeling as if I am right there with them. For my reading folks dealing with primary and secondary sources you are in luck. Liberty Memorial rocks with the primary sources i.e. diaries and
letters that describe
the laughter, love and pain absent from textbooks ...not to mention the emotion captured in the candid photos.
A collection of envelopes that had encased
letters from a father on the front to his son in San Antonio is a focal point within the Liberty Memorial. Skillfully drawn and addressed to Private Walter L. Myers,
these miniature works range from comical to patriotic and capture remarkable
everyday experiences, from one soldier to another. The sketches carry a
message through time and space, so that a century later we understand at first
glance. Connection in the face of conflict. Textbooks document the
dates and time lines, victories and losses, nationalities, maps, destruction and
casualties. But a comical sketch sent from “somewhere in France” or a
photo of the artist drawing in a distant combat zone soars above boundaries
like the hot air balloons depicted by Myers, an artillery scout. It
doesn’t matter if the soldier is French, American, German or Russian – he’s a
man and a father, far away from home.
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