The Great War and the Panhandle-Plains Region

ABSTRACT

Using artifacts from the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society’s collection of World War I weapons, uniforms, equipment, souvenirs, and other militaria, I curated the primary exhibition focusing on the Great War at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in 2017. Because the exhibition format precludes extensive contextual analysis of these artifacts, this thesis offers the exhibition as a case study in public history, examining the process and research and, ultimately, the consequences and results of the exhibition presentations. Moreover, this thesis attempts to record the names and lives en bref of a handful of the 7,000 soldiers, sailors, Marines, and nurses, from the Panhandle-Plains region who served in The World War and whose artifacts and archives comprise the bulk of the museum’s World War I collection.