Major Changes Coming Soon!

Project staff are excited to announce that Missouri Over There will officially launch in the next few days. We want to extend a special thanks to all of our partners and contributors who have made this project possible. In the meantime, enjoy more photos from our artifact gallery and be sure to check back soon for major changes!

Portable organ used by Charles Atkinson Bull of the Young Men’s Christian Association (Y.M.C.A.). Staffed primarily by volunteers, the Y.M.C.A. provided a wide variety of religious and entertainment activities for American troops. Bull, a prominent gospel singer in St. Louis, took this organ to France in March 1918 where he entertained American troops for eight months. The organ was donated to the Immanuel Baptist Church in St. Louis after the war.

The Banner Collection at the Missouri State Museum

Missouri Blue Star Flag

The Missouri State Museum allowed project staff to photograph their banner collection for use in the Missouri Over There project. Take a look at some of these incredible pieces of Missouri history.

WWI Artifacts and Memories: Piano Man in France

Charles Atkinson Bull, ca. 1918. Photo by the Gerhard sisters. Missouri History Museum. 

 

On March 17, 1918, Charles Atkinson Bull, a well-known St. Louis gospel singer, religious worker, and piano salesman, departed for France. Carrying with him a portable Estey pump organ, Bull joined the 25,925 YMCA volunteers serving overseas and in America. The YMCA provided entertainment, support, and religious services to men of the United States and their allies during World War I.   Click here to learn more about Bull's experiences during the War. The Estey pump organ that he took to France is actually located at the Missouri History Museum.

Powhatan H. Clarke, Jr.

Cadet School of Military Aviation, University of Illinois,
Champaign, Illinois, 1917 Clarke Jr. is the 7th
from the right on the front row

Over There project staff recently digitized selected materials from the Powhatan H. Clarke Collection at the Missouri History Museum. The collection includes the correspondence of the Clarke family, chiefly of Powhatan H. Clarke, a Medal of Honor recipient, his wife Elizabeth Clemens Clarke, a native of St. Louis,  and their son Powhatan H. Clarke, Jr.  1st LT Powhatan H. Clarke, Jr. was a student at the Cadet School of Military Aviation, University of Illinois and later served with the 21st Aero Squadron and the Labor Bureau, A.E.F.,  during WWI.

The materials of Powhatan H. Clarke, Jr. were selected for digitization because of his very interesting and unique military career.  In addition to correspondence, Clarke Jr.'s materials include photographs and a short diary. These materials provide a view into the War from the perspective of a pilot. The stories of Clarke Jr.'s various mishaps which he described in great detail in his letters are riveting. For example, the time he lost his money while on leave or the time his chauffer borrowed a government car and crashed into a farmer and his son.  Needless to say, this collection shows that the War was about much more than the battles. It was about people and their frailties that, in the case of Clarke Jr., often led to trouble.

World War I Newspaper Clippings - 1917-1921

John L. Barkley

Newspapers and obituaries are often a great source of information related to individual soldiers that fought in World War I.  Missouri Over There recently placed a collection of WWI newspaper clippings from The State Historical Society of Missouri online. These clippings contain information related to soldiers primarily from the Kansas City and St. Louis areas. The information contained in the clippings vary from soldier to soldier, but most include a photo of the soldier along with additional biographical information. The entire collection is keyword searchable by name, making this a great resource for genealogical purposes. Below are a few examples we pulled from the collection. Enjoy!

Theodore and Belle Naish

Sinking of the RMS Lusitania, Library of Congress

Although thousands of miles from the war zone, Missouri was touched by one of the greatest tragedies of World War I, the sinking of the British passenger liner RMS Lusitania on May 7, 1915. Among the 159 Americans on board, nine were Missourians. Six of them were among the 1,195 people who died in the tragedy. 

World War I Artifacts and Memories: Sinking of the Lusitantia

The Lusitania being torpedoed on May 7, 1915. Library of Congress.

May 7, 2015, marks 100 years since the sinking of the RMS Lusitania by German submarine U-20. A British passenger ship on its way from New York to Liverpool, England, the Lusitania was running a risk traveling through waters that were at the time declared a war zone by Germany.  Click here to read Patrick Allie's blog written in honor of the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania. Patrick is the WWI Exhibit Curator at the Missouri History Museum.