UA Exhibit Commemorates 100th Anniversary of World War I

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Objects offering a glimpse into the lives of World War I veterans will be displayed this month at The University of Alabama Gallery in the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center in downtown Tuscaloosa.

The exhibit, “Glimpses of the Great War,” opens Saturday, Sept. 27 and remains on display through Oct. 30. A reception will be held during Tuscaloosa’s Art Night on the first Friday of the month, Oct. 3, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

The exhibit opens on the same weekend veterans from across the state will visit Tuscaloosa for the Alabama All Veterans and Family Reunion, a weekend-long tribute to veterans organized by the Tuscaloosa Tourism and Sports Commission.

University of Alabama Libraries organized the exhibit in honor of the reunion and the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I.

The exhibit highlights not only World War I veterans but also the families and friends they left behind. Letters, pictures, scrapbooks, uniforms and other military paraphernalia are included in the exhibit.

The items were curated from several special collections, including the Walter Bryan Jones’ papers; the Hughes’ family papers; the Schaudies, Banks, and Ragland families’ papers; the Wade Hall World War I photograph collection; and many, many others. The exhibit was curated by Martha Bace and Patrick Adcock of UA’s W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library.

The University of Alabama Gallery opened in August 2013 and offers a year-round schedule of exhibitions of artistic works, artifacts, textiles and more from permanent collections held by UA, as well as works by faculty, students, and guest artists and designers.

The UA Gallery is located at 620 Greensboro Ave. in downtown Tuscaloosa. It is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and the first Fridays of the month until 8 p.m. For more information, phone the gallery at 205/345-3038 or phone 205/342-2060.

The gallery is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships and Goldwater Scholarships.